Children Of Fate
by tempus-fugit
Summary: Did You Ever Wonder What Happened After? How Squall Ended Up As Leon? What Made And Broke Their Friendship? This Is The Story Of What Happened Next.Contains Yaoi & Shounin Ai But Is NOT Yaoicentric, it's just an element in a tale
1. Disclaimers & Arse Covering

Ok guys and gals. To reiterate, this FICTION is Yaoi. For the uninitiated, that basically means that the characters will, at several points, have hot and passionate GAY sex. As well as that this story is very Shounen Ai (MxM love) oriented and also contains some very naught language.  
  
As well as that I'm not in the habit of placed AN's all over the place, therefore the following disclaimer applies to all chapters all verses and subnotes, k?  
  
I do not in any way shape form or time own these characters. They are the intellectual and physical property of Squaresoft Inc ('cept for Aidan who is an original creation and NOT taken from the novel 'Blood and Chocolate' firstly cause I don't believe in stealing ideas and secondly I've never even read the book).  
  
Hope that's clear enough for everyone. As well as that this story is a WIP, I'll try and upload as much of it as possible as soon as I finish writing each chapter.  
  
As well as all the above (I bet most of you are wondering when I'm gonna be finished, at least those of you who believe in reading this crap) I do like to know what people think. I don't write professionally, however I do enjoy so comments, criticisms hell even FLAMES would be appreciated.  
  
If you wanna suggest an idea, or just wanna rant about how crap the story is you can post a review or mail me at valentine640@hotmail.com  
  
And now, in the immortal words of Monty Python, for something completely different. 


	2. Prologue

Prologue 

On a secluded hill-top an ancient, archaic mansion stood, grounds once tendered with care now left to grow wild. A stone path wound its way up through the foliage and to a series of delicately carved marble steps which, in turn, had at their top a massive wooden door that was almost permanently shut. From a distance it looked more like a castle than a home, but a home it was and inside apparently lived a solitary old man. The people who lived in the nearby towns disliked the home and even more so the old man who lived there. Few people ventured up to him, preferring to leave him to himself and his crazy needs. But as is the case with all secluded, mysterious people, rumours abounded about the old man and who he was. Some said he was once a teacher, others that he was an architect who built the castle for himself and then locked himself away in it after it was completed. No matter who you asked, someone had an idea or a story, normally ending with some horrific and unpleasant twist.

However on this particular day one person made their way up the stone path, braving the harsh winds and storm threats, their steps echoing slightly as they moved forward. For a moment the figure paused looking up at the ancient mansion as if debating what next to do. A faint smile graced feminine lips as the lady took in the sight of the impressive building backed by dark stormy clouds. For no more than a moment she considered turning back but dismissed it. The young woman soldiered on, climbing the stone steps and pushing open the huge wooden door, entering a vast hall. Its architecture was completely classical with a staircase at the edge and works of art scattered around the room, framed by the gentle flicker of candle light. Shadows danced as a soft breeze blew into the hall disturbing the flames. The quiet was almost absolute, broken only by the soft patter of water as it began to rain outside.

She moved further into the hall, eager to see what was around here and made her way toward a display case that seemed to be almost venerated because of its position inside. She edged closer to the case, curious as to its contents. As she approached she noticed that it glittered with a strange blue green light, but only slightly, almost invisibly even in the candle light.

On the base of the case there was, strangly enough, no inscription. Almost as if the contents were to explain themselves, but as she looked closer she could see no answers, only mysteries. She found herself looking at an ancient weapon, one she recognised from her days at school, a weapon called a gunblade. A quick study of it showed that it was well used, the handle worn and several slight notches on the blade, however it was evident that great care had been taken over this weapon as it was well polished and there was no evidence of any monster blood on it, just as such a weapon should be, a work of art.

"Beautiful isn't it,' said a soft, crackly voice from behind her causing her to jump, 'I don't look at it as often as I should, but it is truly beautiful."

Before the young lady was an elegantly dressed man, of average height and slim build, his long white hair cascading over his eyes, wearing a very dark purple smoking jacket, with dark trousers, a black dress shirt and a red cravat, pinned with a glittering and beautiful tie pin. The old man walked towards her, slowly, leaning heavily on an antiquated cane with an ivory handle, by no means an ornate design, but one for practical rather than ornamental use.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…." She began, but the old man cut her off, speaking again in that slow, almost musing tone.

"Oh not to worry my dear, it's been so long since I've seen someone, I'm glad to have someone to talk to. I'm so sorry I frightened you."

"I was just admiring the gunblade, it's stunning, I've never seen one before." She said, trying to offer an explanation of her intrusion.

"Oh not a problem, in fact that's really what I had hoped people would do, this place is sort of a museum you see. A tribute to times long past. I sort of think of my self as the Curator here you know, a man trying to find himself among these relics of the past.

You know there used to be power in these walls, strength and might long ago, but not any more, at least not yet." The Curators voice trailed off, his thoughts gently ebbing over him, causing him to loose his train of thought, the young lady simply listening as younger people do when faced with their elders.

"No matter', he continued, 'It's been so long since I've seen someone else, would you like some tea my dear? To make up in some way for the fright I gave you."

The Curator's voice made it clear that the offer of tea was not an offer at all, and so the young lady followed the elderly and seemingly harmless man deeper into the depths of the archaic castle.

After a few moments of walking in uneasy but somehow natural silence the odd pair came to a kitchen room off the main corridor. As they entered, the old man busied himself preparing the tea for them.

"Please, sit down,' he encouraged, 'I may be old but I can still make a few things. It's such a while since I've had visitors, a young girl used to come from one of the villages near by, but I haven't heard from her for some time. Never mind." He trailed off, sad but still full of energy as some old men are.

"I'm curious about the gunblade you had in the entrance, where's it from?"

The Curator paused for a moment, the question however innocently put had obviously struck him.

"I'm sorry.' She began. 'I didn't mean to offend you"

"No offence taken my dear,' he said, bringing over two cups of steaming tea and sitting down opposite the young lady, 'It just made me think of things that I'd almost forgotten about."

The Curator took a sip of his tea and breathed deeply.

"That gunblade belonged to the hero of legend, the one whose name was lost long ago,' the shock on the young lady's face was clearly evident, 'Ah, I see you don't believe me. And why should you? The story of how the nameless hero and his companions fought the ultimate Sorceress is well known and everyone claims to have some relic of that time."

"But what few people know,' he continued, 'is what happened after that memorable battle. Did you know that something else happened to them? How the child heroes faced the ultimate evil and shaped the world we live in?"

The young lady's eyes opened wide in shock. "I thought that after the battle with the Sorceress that was it? The heroes lived on in legend?"

"Oh far from it my dear,' replied the Curator, 'In fact that was just the beginning of things. Would you like to hear the story of what happened after?"

The only reply the old man received was the slightest of nods from the young lady. That was evidently enough as a slow smile spread over the Curators otherwise stony face.

"Out among the skies they sailed,' he intoned gently, his voice taking a soft quality as he immersed himself in his memories, 'Way above the clouds. The hero sat, watching the beauty of nature pass him by…"


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Old Friends 

To say Squall Leonhart was bored would be an understatement.

In fact, bored was the understatement of the century.

Squall was not bored he was _bored_.

Sitting in the Ragnarok's cockpit, watching the white clouds fly by as the ship gently cruised on autopilot, Squall was forced to reflect on the outcome of the past few years and even more importantly the outcome of the past few days.

The Sorceress Ultimecia had met her fate at the hands of Squall and his Lionheart gunblade, thus ending time compression and saving the world, that had happened 5 years ago. Since then those events had been documented in history and Squall, along with his friends, returned to their present time as Heroes.

As a gift to Balamb Garden, Laguna Loire, the president of Esthar, allowed them to keep the Ragnarok and in the process unveiled the city of Esthar to the world, encouraging all the empires to put aside old rivalries and at least try to live in a state of peace. Nobody listened.

Everyone seemed eager to get a bigger piece of the planet under their control and in the end it was up to the SeeD of the world to act as guardians. After a few hectic months, things had finally returned to almost normal.

Irvine had married Selphie 6 months after the incident with Ultimecia and, surprising all; both had settled down and now taught at the newly rebuilt Trabia Garden, training new SeeDs for the problems that they knew, deep down, would arise in the future.

Quistis regained her Instructors license, and was once again taking the wayward and undisciplined students of Garden under her wing and rumours were that she had started seeing Evan, one of her ex-groupies.

Zell remained a regular SeeD, but for his courage and effort during mankind's darkest hour, a new class of SeeD was created in his honour – Z Class – that was recognised by all as the elite of the elite. He also seemed to be enjoying the stability the world now had to offer and was spending a lot of time with Crystel, formerly a librarian at Balamb Garden, but now a fully-fledged SeeD.

Squall and Rinoa were still together, happier than ever, neither could bear to be apart from each other, which was seldom. Squall had secured the job as Headmaster and Commander of Balamb Garden and, to all appearances, was happy in his life, still a fighter, but at peace and in love. Rinoa stayed at Balamb, with Squall, but had not enrolled, or qualified as a SeeD. She spent her time as a diplomat, although as a Sorceress people were generally in awe or fear of her. Then, a month ago, Squall had finally popped the question to Rinoa and they were due to be married in about a year.

People were surprised at the changes Squall had been through and he was surprised himself. He now had a sense of humour, he smiled and he joked occasionally. People grew to accept him and decided that this must be what love can do to a person.

Laguna, Kiros and Ward stilled ruled over Esthar and now shared and developed technology for the whole world. A year after the battle with Ultimecia Laguna finally told Squall that he was his father. It had been difficult for both father and son, yet somehow they had been able to pull together and lived in acceptance, if not comfort, knowing that neither one was alone in the world.

Balamb and Galbadia Gardens – although still capable of movement – were back in their original places, in fact neither of the gardens had moved since the end of time compression 5 years ago and the huge party that had occurred worldwide.

Fujin and Raijin also had remained in Balamb, happily married and recently had a baby boy, which they affectionately named Gabriel. Raijin still fished and very rarely poisoned himself, but more often than not poisoned others who were unlucky enough to try one of his 'meals'.

Seifer. Seifer had dropped off the face of the world, which may have been a good thing overall considering people were, for a time anyway, after his blood for all the deaths that he had caused. Thankfully though that blood lust calmed down and Seifer was no longer on anyone's hit list. People had forgotten and, in their own way forgiven the Sorceresses Knight. Yet even after global feeling towards him had changed Seifer still remained missing.

That was, until 2 weeks ago.

A report had been dropped on Squall's desk describing recent events in Fishermans Horizon. Apparently a warrior, fitting the description of one Seifer Almasy, had been sighted there. Although no trouble had been caused, the local authorities were still worried so Squall had left Balamb and Rinoa behind, taking with him Zell and the Ragnarok and went to investigate the sighting.

It took a week to find him.

Seifer had heard that they where on their way and, not wanting to be found, had hidden himself in the bowels of the city. But when Zell one night tripped over a heap that immediately started swearing at him in an all too familiar manner, they knew that they had found their lost friend.

Seifer, surprisingly, was willing to talk.

Apparently he had been laying low for the past 5 years, moving from town to town and leading, worryingly enough, an honest life doing odd jobs here and there. At last he came to FH and by very bad luck was spotted by an ex-solider of the Galbadian army, and from there the report was sent straight to Squall's Desk.

Squall, seeing how much his onetime nemesis had changed, offered him a place back at Balamb that, much to Zell's chagrin, he accepted.

Now at last, 5 years after leaving the Garden that had been his home for many years and turning against his childhood friends, the prodigal son was returning home at last.

How things had changed, Squall mused.

Crashes and clatters came from below and voices drifted up the cockpits lift shaft.

"Seifer! Just stay the hell away will ya!"

"Aww c'mon chickie, are you afwaid mean ol' Seifer will hurt you?"

"Just put that down, I know what you're like."

"You always were a chicken wuss, you're never any fun."

"DON'T CALL ME CHICKEN WUSS!"

"Come on chickie, don't be a chicken all your life."

A sigh came up from the galley.

"Alright Seifer, but don't ya dare try anything."

"Thanks chickie."

Another clatter, a scream and even more noise erupted from below

"YOU BASTARD, I'M GONNA KILL YA!"

"Is wittle chickie Zell afraid of some water?"

The crashes, bangs, smashes, and clangs erupted again with vehemence.

'Or perhaps', thought Squall, 'things haven't changed at all,' and he allowed a smile to form on his lips, surprised at how difficult it was.

Suddenly a huge shape obscured the sun and plunged the Ragnarok's cockpit into complete darkness and a massive roar shook the computer terminals and caused the ship to tremble.

Acting fast Squall took manual control and requesting the computer to calculate the size of the object and, if possible, classify it. At the same time he reached over and punched the intercom button.

"Seifer, Zell, stop messing around down there and get in here now! We've got a problem."

Seconds later the elevator behind Squall whirred into life and into the cockpit strode Seifer, dressed in his usual attire, immaculate and elegant with his trademark smirk on his face. Zell, who was soaked to the skin, followed him; his hair was no longer in its usual spiked form, but flat and covering his eyes. His clothes were all but stuck to his flesh, highlighting the strength and build of the shorter warrior.

"What the hell happened to you?" asked Squall, striving to keep a straight face.

"HE tipped a bucket of water over me," replied Zell, in between shivers, pointing at Seifer.

The roar came again and the ship, from bulkheads to barriers, shook.

"No time for that now," said Squall, pouring the urgency into his voice. "Zell, get to your post, Seifer you take ops and see if you can get an image of what the hell is making that noise."

Seifer sat at the operations desk, while Zell took his seat next to Squall in the co-pilot and tactical place.

"Bringing up a visual," said Zell, also going into a fighting mode.

"Holy shit," murmured Seifer. "Whatever the hell it is it's about the size of the 'rok and it's circling us. It'll be coming round for another pass any-"

Seifer didn't get chance to finish his sentence as the huge form again over-shadowed the cockpit of the Ragnarok.

"Hyne almighty," said Zell

A gigantic armoured beast, like nothing anyone of them had ever seen before, with strong diamond looking plates across it's chest and underbelly and huge, serrated claws that looked like they could pierce solid titanium had flown right in front of them, almost challenging this new intruder to a battle, and was hovering, flapping wings that looked not only menacing, but evil and awe-inspiring at the same time.

"Squall," started Zell. "Orders?"

"Turn around and try to head back, there's no way that we can take that thing," said Squall in a monotone voice.

Suddenly, with a roar that shattered two of the monitors on the bridge, the monster swooped towards them, its claws outstretched and jaws filled with vile looking teeth, ready to devour anything that came in it's path. A menacing gleam was in the green eye of the creature that indicated intelligence and much worse, malice.

Acting as quickly as possible Squall twisted the 'rok's controls and punched the main accelerator, sending the ship away from the creature as fast as possible.

The monster gained on the 'rok slowly but surely, closing the gap between it and its prey.

"It's gaining on us Squall," yelled Seifer, over the sudden noise of the engines.

Squall said nothing, focused entirely on the 'rok, that had now become an extension of his own body. Then, without warning, Squall pulled hard to the right, knocking both Seifer and Zell off balance, but the manoeuvre was to no avail, the creature followed the 'rok and within moments Squall again tried to shake it off. The two aerial creatures ducked, dived, spun and twisted one trying wildly to pull away from the other, but with no success.

The creature reached out a claw and scratched the surface of the 'rok, just enough to send it off trajectory and then, with the force of a thousand Omega WEAPONs dug its self deep into the hull of the Estharian ship, sending it tumbling towards the desert below.

Inside the cockpit, Squall was trying desperately to pull up while the others were bracing themselves in crash positions. Even Squall, with all his strength, couldn't dislodge the massive weight that was now sending them tumbling towards the ground.

The monster slashed madly at the 'rok, biting into its electrical systems and tearing out components, flinging them out, trying to get at the flesh it seemed to know was inside.

Squall twisted and spun the main control, until he finally realised he no longer had control. The desert of Centra approached rapidly in the window and Squall looked on, knowing that he could do nothing more.

The surface came closer and closer, the whining of the engines louder and louder until, with a ear splitting bang, the 'rok dug a huge trench as it came to its inevitable stop, blowing out almost every console and monitoring station on the vessel.

The cockpit was a mess, screens were shattered and glass was everywhere, the chairs and stations were flung across the room and electrics fizzled and spluttered, trying to complete connections that were no longer there.

"Bloody hell," said a voice from underneath the remains of the navigator's seat. "Is everyone still alive?" The seat toppled back and Seifer emerged, with a cut across his head that was gushing blood and a rip in his shirt.

"I'm not," said Zell from underneath the pilot's chair that was now the wrong way up and pinning him to the wall, his hair still soaking wet and now had flecks of blood in it. "At least I don't think so." With a mighty heave he pushed the chair away and got up, testing his legs, followed closely by Seifer doing the same.

A blue green light enveloped them both and the familiar tingle of a cure spell flooded their senses as the wounded flesh stitched its self together.

"Come on," said Squall. "We'd better get out of here and fast."

"Why?" asked Zell

Squall raised his eyebrows and then brought them back down in a 'what a dumb ass question' expression. Almost on cue a familiar roar, now all the louder because of the proximity of the monster, was heard and the ship shook and the tearing of metal was heard.

"That's why chickie." Seifer smirked.

The three companions ran out of the cockpit as fast as possible facing literally an up-hill struggle as the ship was imbedded at an awkward angle in the ground and was still shaking from the continued attacks of the monster.

As they stumbled out of the main hanger of the 'rok Zell made the foolish mistake of turning around, attempting to assess the damage, and saw the full form of the beast. Armour plated scales covered the creature, shielding every part of its body, its claws were at least the size of a human and were so sharp, their serrated points couldn't be seen. The creature was pitch black with a slight reflective quality giving the impression of a precious jewel. Its head was at the end of a long neck, similar to that of a dragon, but much larger and its wings were larger than those of Diablos that Zell had equipped.

The creature turned its massive head and spotted the three humans trying to get away and, jumping from the 'rok's almost destroyed hull, landed with the force of an earthquake on the ground in front of them.

Recognising that running would mean instant death, the three warriors took the only other option available: to fight the monster in front of them.

Feeling the familiar tingle of battle flood through him and the adrenaline rush that followed Zell immediately cast a 'Scan' magic on the creature, to at least estimate its weak points, but in his mind an image of Seifer, Squall and him appeared. Zell was aghast, the creature had an automatic reflect ability equipped.

Realising this was a foe that would only be bested through extremely good luck, Seifer did something that he had never before done, he assumed a defensive position and cast haste on himself, followed by protect and shield on his two friends.

Squall, feeling the protect spell envelop him, reached into the back of his mind, calling out his guardian force Shiva. The familiar sensation of fading from reality hit all three of the fighters and the coldness of Squall's resident guardian filled his senses, but the excitement was all too short lived, with a shudder and a flash the fighters rematerialized in reality and a different feeling filled him. Shiva was knocked out and removed from the battle.

The vicious creature in front of them reared its head back, took a tremendous breath so deep that the small group felt the air around them ripple and pucker. Each one of the fighters braced themselves against the attack they knew was coming.

The monster attacked, breathing poisonous fumes onto the small humans that stood in front of it. Squall, Seifer and Zell were cursed with all the usual effects: the dark cloud of blindness around their eyes, the haze of confusion, the countdown leading to death, and the strange tightness in their throats that indicated silence.

Each one of them fell to the ground, unconscious, knowing that they had lost.

Seifer prayed that there was no afterlife because surely he would be punished for everything he had done while Ultimecia had been controlling him. But there was no better way to go than among his friends, knowing deep in himself that he had tried his best, yet that wasn't enough. Then he saw nothing more than black and then he remembered even less.

Zell realised that he had failed all of his friends, and had failed Squall most of all. He hoped for forgiveness for the way he had treated Seifer in the past, but most of all he regretted not telling Crystel how he truly felt. Then, as he took his last breath a black, elegant form shimmered into view.

'Guess this must be the reaper,' he thought. 'Well he ain't getting me without a fight.' Putting what remain of his strength into his last actions, he started kicking and screaming and then all the lights went out.

Squall's last thoughts were directed to Rinoa, his one true love, how they would never get to live their fairy tale life and that there truly was no happy ending for them, how he would miss his friends, but most of all how he would miss those closest to him, like Zell, Seifer, Laguna and all the others.

A figure with long black wings appeared in the haze that was blinding. Clad all in black, the figure appeared to be beckoning to him.

'I thought angels were meant to be white,' Squall thought. Then Squall Leonhart, the lion of Balamb and saviour of the world, stopped thinking all together.

He felt like he was floating.

He felt strange, almost like he wasn't all quite there, like he was lost.

'Is this death?' he thought 'If it is it's bloody boring'.

Pain.

It came and then it went and suddenly, he felt again.

He felt a bed underneath him, a pillow under his head.

He was alive.

Seifer Almasy was alive.

But where was he?

How did he get here?

He dared to open his eyes, but got a surprise, the room he was in was dim, almost back lit and his eyes adjusted easily to the gloom.

"Where am I?' he croaked.

"You're safe' said a voice next to him, light but cold. 'And if you're interested, it's 14:25 on the 17th of January'

Seifer turned in the direction of the voice and saw a shape on a chair next to his bed.

His eyes slowly focused on the figure and his vision became clearer.

Then he did something he had never done before.

He screamed.

_Awake_

A voice pierced the emptiness around him

_Awake_

'Why should I?' Squall asked the darkness.

_I need you, my lion._

The image of the Griever pendant appeared before Squall, hovering slightly before him and, reaching forward, grabbed it. Yet as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished again.

_Awake_

Suddenly Squall's eyes were open and blinded by the bright light, they closed again.

He was alive.

But what about Zell? What about Seifer?

He opened his eyes again, slowly this time, allowing a moment for adjustment before he looked around, taking in every detail.

He was in a room containing three beds the farthest one was by a window and a small door was by it, another small door was inset just behind a wardrobe. Zell was in one bed, he was in another, and the third, nearest the window, was empty but the sheets were rumpled, so perhaps Seifer survived as well?

The Lionheart was leaning on a small chest of drawers at the foot of the bed, its familiar crystal casting a blue glow around it.

Groaning Squall got up out of the bed and, with his head swimming, crossed over to check Zell.

He was alive.

His breathing was shallow though and a damp cloth was on his forehead trying to cool a fever. Squall checked his pulse. It was weak, but present.

Leaving his friend sleeping in peace, Squall struggled over to the chest and opening the drawers found his old clothes. Looking down Squall saw that he was dressed in a plain, simple grey robe. Making a conscious decision to look around first Squall closed the chest and, picking up the Lionheart, made for the door.

Opening it, Squall stepped out onto a wide terrace with a bright noonday sun shining down on the stone path that was strangley warm against his feet. Looking around again, Squall saw mountains in the distance, yet everything else was rocky desert: no water, no vegetation.

'Where in Hyne's name am I?' he thought

His ears pricked at the sound of metal clashing and spinning around saw Seifer, clad in his usual attire trading blows with someone dressed in black trousers and shrouded in an almost long black robe with a hood.

Seifer had his Hyperion with him, whereas the other figure was using just a plain blade with no gun attachment, but wielding it with grace and experience.

Seifer brought the Hyperion crashing down, trying to cut the figure in half, and putting all his strength behind it. The other figure raised the blade and blocked the blow, then with a sudden move, put Seifer off balance, knocking the Hyperion away and then throwing his own blade into the air and pinning Seifer's weapon to the ground.

Knowing that the fight had gone hand to hand, Seifer attacked. Seifer was always a dirty fighter, but his moves lacked the usual confidence and the other figure almost knew what was coming each time. Seifer then tried his old trick of using a fire spell, but it simply washed off the figure in a way Squall had never seen before.

After the effort of a spell, Seifer's strength waned and the other figure got the upper hand, and within moments, the creature had Seifer pinned to the ground with his fist raised, about to strike the killing blow.


	4. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Fight To Forget_

Flying into action, Squall raised his Lionheart and ran to protect his fallen friend from the foe about to kill him. Aiming his blow carefully, just enough to scratch the opponents neck without fatally wounding the figure; Squall drew his blade and held it like a baseball bat as he ran. Gaining on the two figures as the blow was slowly coming down on Seifer, Squall drew his target and swung his blade, but instead of a slight glancing blow he hit nothing but air and was sent off balance.

A soft, but powerful punch sent Squall back and gave the other person a chance to run across the terrace and pick up the blade that pinned Hyperion to the ground. Spinning round, with the heavy black robe billowing, the Lionheart clashed with the other blade with a hiss, sending blue green sparks flying.

Squall pulled the Lionheart back and slashed out at his opponent's head, but again the blow was blocked expertly. Each thrust was parried perfectly and sparks flew as Squall tried his best to gain some sort of advantage over the other fighter. With blades scraping together Squall kicked the other in the chest, causing him to back peddle, leaping up Squall aimed his blade at the fighters arm, wanting to incapacitate, not kill him, but as he came down the other fighter rolled quickly out of the way and Squall once again hit nothing but air.

The other fighter kicked Squall from behind, and then as he fell forward, knocked his legs out from underneath him, causing Squall to be knocked to the ground at Seifer's feet, who had been watching the battle with rapt attention.

Twisting around and flipping himself up Squall was ready to join the fight again, determined to win this time but just as he was about to strike Seifer grabbed him from behind.

"It's alright Squall," he said. "Calm down".

The other figure stabbed his blade into the ground, clearly irritated.

"Fucking hell Leonhart," he said, in a very pissed off manner 'what the hell are you playing at?'

"Relax A," said Seifer, back to his familiar cocky tones, addressing the other man 'you're both ok, what's there to worry about?'

"Plenty," said the other figure, while taking off the large hooded robe surrounding him. "For a start he shouldn't be awake, he still has some of the dragon death in his system." He finished removing his heavy black robe revealing a slender figure underneath, clothed with a loose white tee shirt and black pants, on the third finger of his left hand there was a silver ring and around his neck there was a familiar looking pendant.

"My necklace!" cried Squall, breaking free of Seifer and charging at the other man.

Squall dived at the other, attempting to pin him to the ground, but with a sudden twist and a flip, Squall found himself lying on his back, staring into a pair of deep, chocolate eyes.

"Wrong Leonhart," said the other, "my necklace." And with that he pulled out from under Squall's shirt the all too familiar Griever.

Squall focused on the image around the others neck. It was, at first glance very similar to the one that he himself wore, but on closer inspection it was subtly different. The animal on the necklace was not a lion, it was something else, something sleeker, but before Squall could see what it was he got off him and took a few steps back.

With the adrenaline of battle gone from Squall's system the headache that he had previously was starting to come back and with a vengeance. His vision started to grow fuzzy and dim and his throat felt as if he had swallowed a brick.

He stood up, but for some reason found it to difficult to keep his balance. A slight groan escaped from his lips as he fell back, only to be caught by the other character there.

As the world spiralled into black yet again Squall was able to ask a single question.

"Who are you?"

Squall saw a brief glance across to Seifer, which seemed to have in it both questions and exclamations, although no words were spoken.

"My name is Aidan Squall. Now sleep, you need your rest."

And with those last words echoing in his ears Squall slipped back into blackness.

A kiss.

Soft and sweet, tasting slightly of vanilla.

Arms wrapped around him.

"_I love you."_

Did he ever say that?

"_I love you too, Zell."_

A voice hauntingly familiar pierced his dreams, cold but with a soft lilt.

"Shit, this is bad"

"_What's bad?_' thought Zell, "_and where am I?_"

"What's the matter with him A?"

"_Isn't that Seifer's voice?_' Zell asked himself. _"Did we survive?_"

"He's not completely dejunctioned."

"What do you mean, not dejunctioned? I thought you removed all the Guardian Forces from our minds?"

"So did I Seif, but something's wrong here, there's still dragon death in his system and it shouldn't be there, it's got nothing to hold onto"

"_Wait a second, did that voice just call Seifer Seif? Does he know him? Who is he? And are they talking about Squall?_"

"Well do something for Hyne's sake!"

"I can't! Leonhart shouldn't even have woken up with that much death in him, he should be totally out cold. I don't understand why Dincht isn't awake yet, he should have recovered by now."

"_Shit, busted, better make a good show of it then._"

With an overly exaggerated yawn and way too much stretching Zell finally opened his eyes and sat up in his bed.

"What's goin on?" he asked, pouring as much tiredness into his voice as he could. "An' where are we?"

Zell looked around the room and saw Seifer and another man leaning over Squall on the bed nearest to him. Both men looked up at him and then just as quickly looked back down again. Seifer slowly pulled away from Squall and made his way over to Zell.

"We're stuck in the middle of Centra for a bit, Chickie. That creature that attacked the 'Rok did some pretty serious damage, to it and to us"

"Squall will be ok," said Aidan. "He just needs a little rest that's all. He's running a fever at the moment." Aidan looked up from Squall and fixed his attention on Zell. "How do you feel Dincht?"

"Fine, I think," Zell replied, looking over the man who had, apparently saved them.

He was about Squall's height, 5'7, and had brown hair, spiked very slightly along with deep chocolate coloured eyes that seemed to be almost everywhere at once. His face was not handsome, but not ugly either, it simply was; it looked more like the face of a person who had read countless books and endured countless problems, but had come out of it with a smile. The white tee shirt he wore covered up an elegant and athletic frame, more suited to a dancer than anything else. Around his neck Zell could see a chain, but nothing more and a very familiar ring was on the third finger of his left hand.

"That's Squall's ring!' cried out Zell, "Who are you and why have you got it?"

"My name is Aidan, Dincht," he said, making a sideways glance at Seifer who, in response, merely shrugged his shoulders. "And this ring isn't Squall's it's mine"

Taking off his ring Aidan passed it to Zell and as Zell took it, he stepped back quickly as if burned.

Zell examined the ring carefully in his hand, he could tell instantly that it wasn't Squall's, just by the feel of it, after all he had handled Griever for quite a while during the last Sorceress war. As well as that the design was slightly different, instead of a roaring lion forming the band, the animal was a tiger, caught in mid pounce, with elegent claws and a slim, but dangerous, body. Convinced this Aidan wasn't robbing them blind Zell handed the ring back.

"Thank you," Aidan said, taking the ring back and putting it once again on his finger.

"What happened to us?" asked Zell

"The Ragnarok was attacked by a monster called an Onyx Dragon. A new breed that came down in the Lunar Cry 5 years ago. When you crashed, it hit you with a powerful poison called 'Dragon Death'. You were lucky I was there."

"Apparently it attacks by feeding off junctions, then attacks each cell in the body, destroying it and moving on," said Seifer. 'Aidan had to remove each one of our junctions and then had to remove the dragon death intravenously, drawing it out."

Zell quickly scanned his mind, feeling for the familiar echoes and voices that indicated the Guardian forces presence, but felt nothing, but before he could say anything Squall started to jerk and buck in his bed.

Aidan was at his side in an instant, he placed it fingertips on Squall's temples and closed his eyes. As quickly as it had started Squall's spasm faded. It seemed though like Zell was the only person to see Aidan put a small vial of Squall's blood into his pocket.

"What's wrong with Squall?" asked Zell

"For some reason he still has some of the Dragon Death in his system and I don't know why, I need to do a more few tests on him," Aidan replied, looking distracted and confused by this new turn of events.

"Erm….can I ask you something?" Zell said

"What?" said Aidan, his attention returning to Zell.

"Where can I get changed back into my old clothes?"

Aidan looked at Zell carefully and a grin spread over his face.

"I dunno chickie, I think that cute gown could be a new look for you," Seifer teased, slapping Zell on the ass. Zell wheeled round, nearly punching the taller blond for that, but decided not to, he didn't want to get blood on the bed sheets.

"Down the hall on the right Zell, there's a small bathroom there." Aidan pointed to a door, set just behind a wardrobe. "And your old clothes are in the chest there."

"Thanks." Zell sprang out of bed, grabbed his clothes out of the chest and headed for the door.

"Don't take too long chickie, otherwise we might think you were up to something." Seifer spoke with a lecherous grin on his face.

Zell turned round and gave Seifer the finger before heading out of the door to the bathroom.

Zell walked back down the hallway now clad in his usual clothes and feeling much better for his shower. Sadly Aidan's bathroom didn't have any gel in it, so Zell's hair was just sleeked back, with a few bangs over his eyes.

The hallway was large and looked to be made out of a very strange kind of rock that was warm to the touch, sort of a natural central heating system. It was broad, but sparse, nothing on its smooth walls and only one or two windows. It actually reminded Zell of Matron's old house, but Zell could hardly remember it because of the Guardian forces.

Zell came to the door at the far end that opened up into the bedroom where he and the others had slept away their illness when he heard voices.

"There's something wrong with Squall."

"What?" Zell heard Seifer reply.

"I don't know," responded Aidan. "But it isn't the dragon death, it's something else."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Because there's no Dragon Death left in him, it's all gone."

"I thought you said he was so full of it he should be out cold."

"I did. Nothing I know of could ever have got rid of such a potent poison so fast, and I honestly don't know what to do with him."

There was a pause, long and heavy, as if a veil of silence had been thrown over the room. Then Aidan spoke again, his voice sad and sorry.

"They don't remember me do they?"

Zell heard a sigh that he assumed to be Seifer.

"No A, they don't" Seifer replied.

"I didn't think they would." A simple statement that Aidan made almost clinically, but Zell sensed an underlying emotion to his words.

"Hyne above," thought Zell. "We know him?"

"Hell, I'm surprised they even remember me the amount of times they used those bloody Guardian Forces," said Seifer, his voice trying to lighten the mood, but failing abysmally.

There was another long pause.

"I loved him Seif, I loved him with all my heart and he's forgotten me."

"Holy shit," whispered Zell "He's gay? Him and Squall were together?"

"You don't know that A, he may remember, we'll just have to wait and see."

"I don't want him told Seif."

"Then I guess I won't tell him, A. …You've got my word on that."

"Good."

"Have you got any idea what's doing this to him?" asked Seifer, his voice thick with worry.

"Not a clue Seif, not a clue.' Aidan replied. "But it's killing him, if we don't find out what it is soon, Squall'll die"


	5. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: Fire & Ice_

'Squall,' thought Zell, still behind the door, 'die? That's impossible!'

Zell shook his head as if to try and get rid of the thought.

'So this character is an old flame of Squalls, he lives in the middle of nowhere and saved our lives,' Zell mused, 'and if Squall doesn't get medical attention soon, he'll die. Hyne! What are we going to do?'

Realising there was nothing he could do stuck listening in on the conversation, Zell decided to go back into the room and pretend as if he hadn't heard a thing, just to wait and see what the others would tell him.

'After all,' Zell thought, 'You never get the full story if you eavesdrop.'

Zell pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

"Hey guys,' he said, and after a brief pause added; 'how's Squall doing?"

The others turned round and looked at him.

"Not good Zell, but he's stable for the moment." Replied Aidan, looking him in the eye.

"When's he gonna wake up?" Zell asked.

"I'm not sure, I'm concerned though, so I need to check a few things."

"It could be anytime though chickie." Seifer added.

Zell looked down at his unconscious friend, concern in his eyes. 'Tests?' he thought 'but then, where's the equipment?' Zell looked around the room again, and seeing nothing technological, asked the obvious question:

"How are you going to perform all these tests without any equipment?"

Aidan looked at Zell and smirked.

"I have my ways Dincht." He replied.

"So what are we going to do about Squall?" Asked Seifer.

"Well that's obvious,' said Zell, 'we need to get him back to garden, or at least to hospital as soon as possible."

"Oh? And how do you think we're going to do that?" Aidan shot back.

"Well we can't be too far from a hospital or a town, even with the 'Rok damaged."

"Not a chance Dincht, we're about 3 weeks chocobo ride from the nearest town, not to mention mountains and valleys in-between us"

"Then how do you get food and water?" Seifer questioned.

"Water's not a problem Seif,' replied Aidan, 'It's everywhere, you just need to find it. When I first got here I found an underground stream, so the water here is completely pure. As for food, I grow my own, it's not the best, but it keeps me going. As for meat, one large freezer is more than enough for me."

"Hyne above!' cried Zell, 'you mean we're miles from civilisation, with no way to help Squall?"

"Looks like it chickie" said Seifer.

"I never said that Seif,' interrupted Aidan, 'I can help Squall and until we've fixed the 'Rok, you can stay here, besides, if you even tried to cross Centra from here, you'd be eaten alive before the day's out, think you can take a group of those dragons?"

"Looks like it's impossible now anyway." Said Zell, looking out of the window at the rapidly approaching night.

"Then that's settled, you three stay here with me until the 'Rok is repaired. I'll do my best to help Squall, but until then,' Aidan said with a grin on his face, 'looks like you're stuck with me."

They hadn't been completely straight with him, but Zell didn't mind, at least they hadn't barefaced lied to him. He was still worried about Squall, but something told him that Aidan would do all he could to help.

Until then, how the hell was he supposed to know how to fix a salad?

Seifer and Zell were in the kitchen of Aidan's home, sent off there and told to fix something for dinner while Aidan tended as best he could to Squall, who was still unconscious.

"C'mon chickie, can't you toss a salad?" teased Seifer.

"Hey, I don't see you doin much better with those burgers,' replied Zell, 'and at least I know how to use an oven!"

"You don't really rely on your own cookery skills while you're eating in bars and fast food restaurants chickie,' Seifer shoot back, not missing a beat, 'besides, watching you 'toss' is fun." He added with another lecherous grin.

Zell wasn't happy about that and made his feelings known to Seifer by hurling a tomato at his head, which Seifer dodged.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"How can you stand around there making jokes when Squall's seriously injured?' Zell burst out, 'he's saved us all more times than we can count and we're leaving him in the care of somebody we don't even know!"

Seifer stood, stunned, looking almost comical with a platter of burgers in his hands. His eyes betrayed an inner conflict. What could he say to that? Zell was his friend and he couldn't lie to him, could he?

"Zell,' Seifer began, 'I know Aidan and I know we can trust him. He'll help Squall, trust me."

Zell was aghast, as he looked deep into Seifer's crystal sea-green eyes he could see no trace of a lie and perhaps, more to the point, Seifer had called him Zell, something that he could never remember Seifer doing. He was confused, but Seifer had asked for trust, no not trust, faith. Could he give that?

Zell paused, his whole expression pensive, "Alright Seif, I believe you."

Seifer was relieved; he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and a familiar smirk spread over his face. "Thanks chickie."

Zell's face fell when he heard the familiar taunt, but recognised that it wasn't said out of malice, but simply because Seif couldn't call him anything else. Zell smiled, with a glint of mischief in his eye and then looking Seifer in the eye said; "No problem Seif." And then threw another tomato at him, this one hitting his square on the forehead making a very satisfying mess. Yet as he did one question went through his mind; 'What was wrong with Squall?'

In a locked room near to where Squall lay there was a technological wonderland. Computers, terminals and a large chemistry set-up adorned the room, with printouts and other electronic paraphernalia on the tables. A small three-dimensional hologram was projected, showing a sample of Squall's blood.

Computers whirred and hummed around Aidan as he sat, hunched over a terminal. At present Squall's blood sample was being analysed by one of the famous Doctor Odine's machines that he had 'acquired' over several trips to Esthar while he had been setting up his home here. All of the machines in the room were either his own creation, or were made of components he had salvaged from junk shops or from a few, seldom made trips, to Esthar and other places around the planet.

He was concerned about the results, but knew deep down that they would come back negative; all he was doing was waiting.

When he had seen the 'Rok crash land only a few minutes away from his home he knew that the past had finally caught up to him. He'd recognised the Ragnarok instantly of course, it was one of the most famous ships on the planet, he just didn't know who was on board. That was until he got to the crash site and saw them, lain on the ground and about to be eaten by a Dragon, that he was only just able to scare off, nothing on the planet could kill one of those things, let alone him.

Aidan sighed, deeply.

He was different now, not a warrior anymore, the only reason he had been able to help them was because he had stopped using the junctions. Squall had always been twice the man he was and always would be, whether he had the guardians or not. He knew the truth, but he couldn't interfere.

The computer beeped signalling the end of the tests, pulling Aidan out from his thoughts. He touched the screen and the results flitted across, telling him what he already knew.

Squall was fine.

'The removal of all his guardians must have stopped the poison finally,' he thought, 'but what about those other readings?' He scrolled further down the screens, taking in every bit of information.

"Nothing." He muttered under his breath. Was it possible he was wrong?

Squall's vital signs had dived only a few moments ago, as if something was boosting him beyond what was normal, but now it had gone, was that even possible?

Aidan knew how the poison reacted, better than anyone alive. Maybe this was just some kind of side effect that he hadn't seen before. Whatever it was, it was gone and Squall was just sleeping deeply. He'd probably wake up sometime tomorrow and then they could get repairing the 'Rok.

Thankfully the Ragnarok was equipped with an auto-repair facility which should take care of the external damage, but if there was something wrong with the electronics….

He sighed again, they'd take care of that later, if needs be.

He stood up from the terminal, feeling the familiar pangs of hunger in his stomach, hopefully Zell and Seifer will have fixed up dinner. As he walked towards the door he passed a large locker, set into the rock and spared it a passing glance. His expression changed growing darker and his hand touched the pendant that was around his neck.

'No,' he thought, 'Never again. NEVER again'

And a split second later his expression was back to normal, his hand back at his side and he walked through the door, heading toward the kitchen. The sun was setting on the horizon and he was hungry. He was tired as well, perhaps tomorrow would bring better luck.

The midday sun beamed through the window near to the bed where Squall lay, sending shadows into only the corners of the room. Squall's chest rose and fell with regularity and beneath his eyelids his eyes were fiercely alive as he dreamed.

He looked almost peaceful and a faint smile graced his elegent lips, as if he was enjoying a pleasant dream and never wanted to wake. He was serine, his head lay back against the pillow and his hair spilled onto and away from his face.

He was in a field, lush and green with vegetation and flowers. The sun was beating down on him and the sky was a crystal clear blue, not a cloud was visible and there was a very slight breeze, almost impossible to feel, but it was there.

"Squall,' said a voice from behind him, 'it's ready"

Squall turned and saw, crouched on the grass, was Rinoa. She had laid out a red and white checked sheet with food, a picnic. Squall smiled as he looked at his love.

'_Perfect'_ he thought, his heart filled with warmth and love for Rinoa.

He set off towards her when he noticed that something was wrong. Everything around him was wrong. The paradisiacal scene shifted and swirled around him, fading in and out.

Squall twisted around in panic, wondering what was happening when he felt someone touch him on the shoulder and turn him towards them. As he turned he saw, not the face of his fiancée, but rather some grotesque creature, the only similarity was that they had dressed the same and their eyes had the same warmth to them.

The face that Squall knew as his love's had almost melted away like a bizarre wax sculpture, and the image that was left was something hateful. Something that Squall wanted to fight and kill, something not entirely human, but for some reason he couldn't move, as if the creature had some hold on him.

"Squall?' the monstrosity uttered in Rinoa's sweet tones, 'what's wrong?"

Suddenly the creature's eyes changed from the sweet brown of Rinoa to a perverted green-blue, which was not limited to the irises alone, but filled the eyes entirely and then started to glow.

Suddenly the image disappeared all that was left was a sharp pain on the side of his head. He opened his eyes, immediately closing them again after looking directly into the bright light of the sun. He twisted to one side and hit his forehead. Groaning he opened his eyes more carefully this time and felt a lump on the left side of his head,

'Must have fallen out of bed,' he thought, 'Hyne, what a nightmare.'

The door to the room burst open and Zell practically fell in. He looked a shambles, covered with sweat and his face stained with oil and grease.

"What the hell's goin on?" Zell cried.

He looked straight at Squall and did a double take.

"Squall? You're up!

Squall just groaned again and put his hand to his head, his fingers gently running over the old scar that Seifer had left him with, the familiar texture of the forever-puckered skin comforting him like it always did.

"Whats the matter?' Zell asked, pouring concern into his voice, 'what happened?"

"I fell out of bed, I…." Squall tailed off.

"What?"

"I had a bad dream."

Zell's face held a measure of surprise, almost alarm, but it only lasted for a split second.

_Squall has nightmares?_ He thought _how can he? He's …. Perfect_

"It's ok Squall, dreams are just dreams, there's nothing real about them."

Squall paused for a moment. "I guess." _ Then why did it feel so real? Hyne Rin, I miss you, I hope that you're ok._

Squall returned to the real world to find Zell kneeling down with his hands on Squall's shoulders, their faces only inches apart. It felt strange, but in a good way, comforting. Secure. Safe.

"You ok Squall? You zoned out for a bit there."

"Yeah I'm fine Zell." Squall replied, managing a thin smile that, for some reason felt natural. He took a deep breath and the scent of oil, grease and dirt filled his senses, causing him to pull away from Zell.

"Dear Hyne what have you been doing?' Squall exclaimed 'you smell like you've been taking a bath in Grat shit".

Zell got back onto his feet, pulling Squall up with him.

"Sorry, we've been out all day fixing the 'Rok. The damage wasn't that bad, the ships repaired most of it, just a few electrics that need fixin" Stated Zell, unable to take his eyes off Squall.

Squall wanted to shrug off Zell's hands, but couldn't bring himself to do it, it just felt so….right.

He allowed his tone of voice to frost over, trying to bring the conversation back to business and not to the thought of Zell's arms placed lightly on his shoulders.

"How long before we can leave?" Asked Squall, gently removing himself from Zell.

Zell took a small step back; almost unaware he was doing so, but even so his eyes never left that comforting grey of Squall's.

"Dunno, another couple of days, not long.' Replied Zell, 'but now you're up we'll be out of here soon." He added with a smirk.

Squall breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Hyne. I didn't want to be stuck here for long, there's something about Aidan I don't like. He's not telling us something."

"I think you're right Squall, we ain't getting the whole story. What's he doing here for a start?"

"Where are Seif and Aidan?" Squall asked.

"There're still out at the 'Rok, bout an hours walk away, I came back cause I was hungry and Aidan said he had some hot dogs back here.

Squall's face slipped from its normal stoic mode into a pensive one and a slow smirk spread over the brunette's elegent face.

Zell's eyes lit up and a mischievous smile appeared on his lips.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Squall asked.

"Snoop around a bit?" Zell replied, his smile imitating the one that Squall had on.

"Give me a second, I want to get changed first." Said Squall, gesturing down at the simple gown that he still had on from the day before.

Zell glanced down at Squall's body, quickly pulling his eyes back up realising what he was doing.

Squall on the other hand, felt flattered albeit uncomfortable at Zell's accidental attention.

"I won't be a second." Said Squall.

A few minutes later Squall was back in his original trademark clothes with his gunblade in it's usual position. In the past Zell had asked Squall why he always had it on, but Squall's reply was just simply "I never feel dressed without it" and Zell left it at that.

Zell and Squall tried each one of the doors in the small home, but only found the kitchen, bathroom, a small library containing a few history books and old papers before finally finding a very odd room that just had a comfortable chair in it, positioned next to a large window.

"How long has this place been here?" Zell mused.

"Don't know,' replied Squall, 'but I don't remember seeing it when we were ever flying over Centra, so I'd say it must have been in the last few years."

"I guess,' the expression on Zell's face became thoughtful as they opened another door, one that just opened onto a storeroom, 'but Seif said he knew him, so does that mean that Seif spent some time here? Or does it mean that he knew him during the war?"

Zell quickly remembered the conversation he had heard earlier the other day, mulling over it in his mind. Should he tell Squall? No, it's not his place, besides the answer was obvious. Aidan must have known Squall and Seifer in the past and for some reason Zell couldn't get Edea's orphanage out of his mind.

"Maybe' said Squall, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, 'but there could be other explanations."

Zell and Squall opened yet another door and had at last found something useful, a large room that contained a small desk, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

Stepping into the room Squall and Zell headed for different parts of the room and started their search, careful to put everything back where they'd found it after checking it completely, they were after all mercenaries and highly trained in surveillance operations.

"Zell, over here." Squall whispered urgently.

Zell closed the drawer he was looking in and headed over to Squall, who was checking out the wardrobe to see what he had found.

Squall had in his hand a small case made from mahogany and was a gorgeous dark red. The box was inlaid with black wood that seemed to sparkle. In Squall's hands the box was light and warm, but something about it that unsettled him. On the top of the box there was a monogram that read "K.R.T"

"K.R.T? Who's that?" wondered Squall.

"Dunno,' was Zell's instant reply, 'lets open it up!"

The small case had a clasp set into the wood and so, undoing it, Squall opened up the case. Inside were two pistols resting on red velvet. They were elegent pieces of art with gleaming mother of pearl handles and shimmering onyx barrels that were only highlighted by faint streaks of silver running along them. Just looking at them Squall felt his breath taken away, they were deadly and beautiful.

"Wow,' was Zell's reaction, 'what are they?"

"They're called Cloisters, the name's written just here, but who do they belong to? Aidan uses a blade, so they're not his."

"Lets carry on looking, maybe we can find out more" said Zell, eager to resume looking, his natural curiosity only whetted by what they had found.

"How come I can't hear Shiva in my mind anymore Zell?" Squall asked, having become so accustomed to having the ice princess in his mind he was naturally curious as to why he couldn't sense her usual cold self.

"Aidan removed all our Guardian Forces, he…"

Zell never had time to finish his sentence before Squall interjected, his voice filled with horror.

"What! Why in Hyne's name did he do that? He's left us defenceless!"

Once again, in a split second Zell was at his side, reassuring Squall. It was strange, he thought, that only a few short years ago the ice prince would never have shown his feelings like that and now, although such eruptions were rare, they did happen, although only in times of stress when he was away from Rinoa.

"It's ok, if he hadn't taken them out of our minds we would have died, something about the poison we were infected with feeding on them." Zell's voice was the very epitome of calm and relaxing, almost as if he was talking to a distraught child. Which was a reasonable statement, Squall had been using the guardians almost forever, and they were a part of him. Now he'd lost them it would be like a part of him had died and could never be brought back.

Instantly Squall froze over again, but his expression was a mixture of hurt and thought. Squall felt like he had been violated, the fact that a perfect stranger had just wandered into his mind was disturbing enough, but how could he have removed Shiva? They were almost one in the same, to Squall it just didn't make sense.

The sound of Zell's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"What's this?"

Squall got up and went over to Zell. He'd found a small key taped to the underside of one of the drawers.

"I haven't seen any locked doors round here." Squall observed.

"Then what's it a key for then?"

Squall had no reason for that logical argument. There was nothing they had found that had any kind of lock on it, not even the gun case he'd found. Squall knew there was something not right, that something was missing.

Pocketing the key Squall and Zell left the room having realised there was nothing else to be found there. Zell was disappointed, if Aidan had been there for so long, surely there would have been something else, a journal or anything. Instead there was simply nothing, except a key and a set of elegent guns.

"I think that's about it." Zell observed. They had seemingly covered the place from front to back and top to bottom and both were very irritated, they had gone in search of answers, but had found only more questions.

As they were walking back along the hallway Squall stopped abruptly.

"Squall?' Zell asked, wondering what he was going on, 'Whats up?"

"Here." Was Squalls cryptic reply. He was stopped just in the middle of the hall, there was nothing on the walls and nothing special about the….

Zell looked down.

The floor.

The floor where Squall was standing was slightly more worn and faded than the rest of it along the hallway. Realising this Zell started to look around the walls for anything at all and Squall did the same.

They weren't disappointed this time. Set into the rock almost invisible to the naked eye was a keyhole made to look like a natural fissure of the wall.

"Still got that key?" Squall enquired of Zell.

"Yeah, sure." Zell reached into his pocket, pulled out the key and passed it to Squall.

Squall took the key from Zell's hand, enjoying the soft skin of Zell's hand against his for a moment too long, then inserted it into hole. He twisted it and a section of the wall slid outwards with a sigh.

"Kinda unoriginal isn't it?" Said Zell.

Squall just simply smirked and stepped into the hidden room, follow closely by Zell, who was sporting a similar grin.

As it turned out the room wasn't a room at all, but rather a small hallway that was barely lit. There were cables coming out of the rock walls of all sizes. Some Zell recognised as data cables and electrical cables and they seemed to be leading deeper into the mountain. Following them for about 20 metres the pair came to a wooden door, again set into the rock. With a small glance at Zell, Squall pushed it open and stepped through.

They were both dazzled by the bright light around them and after a second so their eyes could adjust they looked around the room.

It was filled with machines, gadgets, gizmos and Hyne knows what else. Most of them bore the mark of Esthar and had been, by the looks of things jury rigged so as to be compatible with technology that looked like it had come out of places like Galbadia and even the Shumi village.

Squall was aghast. All this technology was obviously stolen.

"Bloody fucking hell,' was Zell's reaction to what they saw around them, 'what in the name of Hyne is this place? It's amazing!"

"It's a lab of some kind, but its got a mixture of stuff, chemistry' Squall pointed to a large set up on one table and a rack containing test-tubes, one of which was filled with a glowing green substance, 'biology,' Squall indicated a small holograph displaying what was obviously a blood sample, 'and computers.' He said gesturing finally to several computers set up around the place, all of which seemed to be on standby mode.

Both Squall and Zell knew a little about computer systems from Garden and both headed over to consoles. Zell activated his and found a screen which contained data on the 'Rok, including it's capabilities, model history, everything.

Squall on the other hand had found something far more disturbing. On his screen there was a series of live feeds. He recognised from his brief fight outside, the terrace and some of the rooms, but as he scrolled down he came to a small section of feeds and his blood turned cold.

"Zell,' he whispered, 'look at this."

Zell left his station and went over to Squall. As he looked over the brunette's shoulder he gasped in astonishment.

"That's….That's…."

"Garden." Finished Squall.

"But how?"

"I don't know Zell, but if the Garden Network has been compromised then we are all in very serious trouble. This isn't good. The more I see here, the less I like it."

"Hang on, does that mean we can contact them?"

"I doubt it Zell"

"Why?"

"This isn't a live feed. It's years old, you can tell by the time frame. But it's still showing in real-time and this is still a problem."

Zell's shoulders slumped in disappointment if the feed wasn't live then there was no guarantee of a direct connection to Balamb, or any other Garden. For all they knew this could simply be a 'best of' featurette that this freak was recording. He felt betrayed, again. They'd trusted Seifer. He'd trusted Seifer and he'd lied.

Squall's eyes were drawn back to the door and settled on a large metallic locker, set deep into the rock. The metal was thick, but possible to break. He gentle tapped Zell on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the locker.

"Think you can break into that?"

"No prob" was Zells immediate response. He walked over to the locker and just as he was about to punch a hole in it stopped abruptly.

"Whats the matter?"

"Do you think we should Squall? I mean there could be Hyne knows what in here, dead bodies, mad experiments…" Zell allowed his voice to trail off. He wasn't scared, SeeDs didn't get scared, he was simply concerned.

"Yes there could, but I think we should take a look anyway. Besides, if there was anything alive in there we'd have heard it moving around."

"I guess." Said Zell, but still unsure. He took a deep breath, focused his energy and punched through the thick metal.

"Either that or it was sleeping and you've just woken it up." Squall added cruelly.

Zell's expression went from calm to disturbed to hysterical in a split second and as fast as he broke in he pulled his gloved fist out of the hole he'd just made, terrified he was about to lose his hand to some new, freakish kind of monster.

"You bastard,' he said, 'you're becoming more like Seifer every day, ya know that?"

Squall put his hands over his heart as if he'd been stabbed. "How could you say that?' he said, almost as if he was lamenting, 'Chicken." He finished with a smirk on his lips.

Zell wasn't happy, but didn't say anything. Squall was after all his superior, besides he needed a moment to come up with a witty retort.

Zell stepped away from the locker and Squall stepped forward by his friend's side. Zell reached forward and opened the door. It was stiff and creaked a great deal, almost as if it hadn't been opened in years. Never the less the door slowly came open and the bright light of the room shone into the previously sealed casket.

Squall and Zell recoiled in surprise.

"It's impossible." Zell exclaimed, looking at the contents of the locker.

"No it's not,' Squall said, his calm exterior belying his word, 'it sort of makes sense…"

"Find anything interesting?" A cold voice said from the doorway.

Zell and Squall turned, shocked and saw Aidan with his sword drawn and blood dipping from it's sharpened edge. Standing beside him was Seifer, his gunblade still in its holster; seemingly astonished by the room he had just entered. Both were lit up from the light shining down, casting menacing shadows behind them.


	6. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: Story Time_

"What the fuck is going on here?" Seifer burst out.

"This is my lab Seif, I never thought that Zell and Squall here would go snooping around when they could have just asked,' Aidan replied calmly, 'you didn't touch anything did y…."

Seifer and Aidan's eyes fell onto the monitors around the room that were displaying the old images from the Garden. Seifer stared at the man next to him in shock almost unable to believe what he was seeing, betrayal and anger flashed briefly in his eyes as he took a few paces forward to stand with Zell and Squall. The relief in Zell's eyes was obvious, Seifer didn't know about any of this.

Squall unsheathed his Lionheart and Seifer the Hyperion, whereas Zell simply assumed his usual fighting stance, ready to attack at his Commander and his best friends order.

Aidan simply looked over all three of them, wondering what was going on.

"Seif,' he began, almost pleading to the older man, 'please. You know me, this isn't what it looks like, I can explain."

"Then explain this." Zell reached into the open locker, removed its contents and flung it to the gravely ground.

A SeeD uniform lay there, surrounded by a cloud of disseminating dust, a pin of rank barely visible inside the right sleeve.

"Identify yourself." Squall stated in his all to familiar High Commander voice

Almost instinctively Aidan started to salute, but stopped mid way and put his hands in his pockets.

"Lieutenant Aidan Tygerson, Class A, Rank 28, SeeD no 851264." He stated in a monotone, but with a smirk on his face.

Squall looked at him, chocolate eyes met with steely grey and then Squall moved faster than a lion when it's prey was in sight. Lunging for Aidan with his gunblade, Squall locked his wrists in the standard posture, expecting another fight with him. Aidan however, surprised by the move, barely had time to draw his blade before Squall wiped the smirk off his face by pinning him to the ground, resting the tip of the Lionheart on Aidan's throat.

"Explain how you got access to this information,' Squall demanded, a slight growl in his voice, 'to access surveillance data from the GN requires Commander privileges. IF you're a lieutenant there is no way that you could have got this information."

"I helped upgrade the GN years ago. There's a trapdoor built into the system so that administrators are able to get in if something went wrong with network. I just used that. And I am SeeD, just ask Seif" Aidan replied, almost gasping for breath from the pressure on his neck from the sorceress killer.

All eyes looked to Seifer, who had replaced his sword back into its holster. "He's SeeD." He said, attempting in vain to break the tension, but failing miserably.

"Is there a direct link to Garden?" Asked Zell, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.

Aidan looked over at Zell, making eye contact with the warrior. "No, there's no way to get a direct link, not out here anyway. There's not even radio reception. Those images I got the last time I was in Esthar, about 4 years ago."

Zell's shoulders slumped, obviously there was going to be no easy way out.

Satisfied for the moment Squall slowly brought his gunblade back to its holster, re-sheathing it and allowing their host to return to his feet. Squall's attention was then turned on Seifer.

"How do you know him?" demanded Squall.

"Aidan was at Balamb Garden 'till about a year before the last sorceress war. He got transferred to Trabia Garden to take the SeeD exam, which was the last I heard. I thought he'd died when the missiles fell on Trabia, when I woke up I thought I was looking at a ghost. I screamed like chickie here when I laid eyes on him."

"Hey! Shut up ya bastard." Zell hit Seifer in the arm

"How did you survive?" Squall asked.

"Accidentally,' was Aidan's reply as he dusted himself off. 'I was on a mission and was delayed getting back home, when I did eventually return it was to late, the missiles had fallen and destroyed my home."

"Then why didn't you head to Balamb or at least Galbadia?" Questioned Zell, eager to hear more.

Aidan sat down on the nearest chair, picking up his old uniform and setting it down on one of the desks in the process, handling it with almost reverence. "Revenge." He uttered, with such finality and coldness Zell was briefly reminded of Squall B.R as he termed it (Before Rinoa).

"I don't understand." Was Squall's immediate reply to Aidan's cryptic statement.

"Everything I knew was destroyed totally in that attack. I took it on myself to strike out alone at the traitor who ordered it. Every breath and every step I took was with the object of killing him." Aidan enunciated the point by stabbing a finger at Seifer, who turned away in shame.

Aidan quickly apologised for his words, "I'm sorry Seif, I know better now and I know it wasn't you behind that mask. Even so I still went after both the Knight and the Sorceress. Actually I followed your trail as far as I could, right into the Lunatic Pandora, even into Ultimecia's castle, but I couldn't find you and there was no way I could follow you into Ultimecia's chambers, I wasn't powerful enough."

Zell, Seifer and Squall sat down, listening with intent to Aidan's words, every syllable he spoke was almost made powerful by the whirring of the machinery around him, but as the three friends looked at him all they could see was not a warrior, not a scientist, but a man who had suffered loneliness, hate and a passion for killing, yet had barely pulled away from those base urges. When Zell looked at him he could easily see that happening to Squall and the thought of that turned his stomach, he would never let that happen, not to his best friend.

Squall's outward reaction was, as usual, nothing. However his mind was spinning. SeeD had strict rules about a solider leaving the ranks and if Aidan's story was true it was Squall's responsibility as Commander and Headmaster to bring this man back to Garden. As much as Squall didn't want it to be so, there was something about Aidan's story that rang true.

"When time compression ended,' Aidan continued, softly, 'I knew there was nothing left, so I isolated myself, came here and let things take their course."

"And all this?" Zell asked, gesturing all around him at the technology and the resources scattered around the lab.

Aidan looked at Zell and a slight smile spread over his features as he made eye contact with the shorter warrior. "Borrowed." He said.

"You mean stolen." Retorted Squall.

"Something like that, I started to research in the mental effects of using the Guardian Forces. I used myself as an subject and came up with a few interesting results."

Seifer's ears almost literally pricked at Aidan's last statement and asked the obvious question. "What kind of results?"

Aidan smirked and gazed at Seifer. "Interesting ones, but I don't want to bore you with the details."

"Where are our Guardian Forces?" Inquired Squall, leaning forward in his chair.

"Over there." Aidan pointed at a small collection of objects on a nearby desk. A small ice figurine in the shape of a woman, a candle burning, but never going out, a small metal lightening bolt, a harp, a ring, a small oil lamp and finally a large gem, a ruby that shined from the inside out, sat on the desk, each different object symbolising a different guardian.

Squall got up, walked over to the table, put his hand onto the ice statuette and reached out with his mind.

_Come to me Shiva_

A cold presence entered his mind as Squall and his guardian once again became as one.

_It's good to have you back princess _Squall thought

_It is good to be back my cold Prince_

A slow smile spread over Squall's aquiline features as he felt Shiva's could presence wrap itself around his mind.

Zell and Seifer made their way over to the table next to Squall while Aidan still sat; his face aghast and his mouth wide open in shock.

"That's impossible" he began, but clamped his mouth shut.

Seifer and Zell reached out for there own Guardian Forces called them back into their minds. Zell felt the familiar tingle of electricity around him as he tried to bring back Quetzalcoatl, but instead of felling the power flood back into him he felt something else.

_I cannot serve you. Your mind is closed to me._

Seifer got a similar message from Carbuncle and both men took a step back in horror, they no longer had any of their former powers!

Squall looked at the others, a confused look on his perfect face.

"Why haven't you drawn the others?" He asked

"We….We can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Questioned Squall

"Like we can't draw, summon or junction any of our Guardian Forces 'Angst Boy', we're powerless!" Seifer practically yelled into Squall's face, partially because he was suddenly worried, but more because he had never known the feeling of being powerless that he was going through now. It was unpleasant and he certainly didn't like it.

"But how…" Began Squall, before all three of them slowly focused on Aedan, putting the relevant pieces of the puzzle together, or at least attempting to. Aedan just sat there and look sheepish, attempting to look innocent, but failing miserably.

"Erm…Sorry,' he offered.

Seifer strode over to Aedan and towered over him menacingly.

"What the FUCK have you done to us?" He practically screamed into the smaller man's face.

Aidan drew himself up to his full height, staring Seifer straight in the chin.

"I had to do it…" Aidan began, but was scarcely able to finish a sentence when Zell was at Seifer's side backing him up.

"I don't give a fuck what you had to do. What have you done?" The anger in Zell's words was only emphasised by the cool delivery that they were given. His fists were clenched tightly, the leather of the gloves making soft squeaking sounds as Zell fought, for the first time in years, to keep his cool.

"I had to seal off your minds from the Guardian Forces. You can't draw or use GF based magic. The Dragon Death you were suffering from would have used any part of your minds that it could get its claws on, I had to seal it off from any kind of external influence." Aidan passed his eyes over Zell, refusing to make eye contact, almost as if he was ashamed at what he'd had to do.

"And why didn't you remove this block once we got better?" Seifer asked in his best condescending tone.

"Because the poison eats at Junctions. It's benign in our systems, but make no mistake if you ever re-equipped a Guardian Force you'd be dead in less than a hour." Aedan replied.

Zell felt sick to his stomach. He felt violated in the worst kind of way. Someone he may or may not have known in the past he simply walked into his mind and shut part of it down. Granted Aidan had done it to save his, Seifer and Squall's lives, but that didn't give him the right to. Wait a minute, thought Zell, what about Squall?

"But why hasn't it affected me?" Inquired Squall, stepping over to stand with hi friends and predicting Zell's next question.

"I…I don't know,' he admitted reluctantly, the uncertainty evident in his voice and body language, 'you shouldn't be able to draw at all, but there were problems when I was treating you."

"What kind of problems?"

"Something was…different, you still had remnants of the poison in your system, even after I thought I'd purged it from you. There was something strange, it was almost as if you weren't completely de-junctioned.

Squall paused, his mind working overtime. Not de-junctioned? But how? Never mind, I'll get the doc to look us over when we get to Balamb; she'll be able to fix whatever damage has been done.

"Never mind about that,' said Squall, slipping into his High-Commander voice yet again, 'our main priority is to get the 'rok repaired and get beck to Garden."

"Agreed,' chipped in Zell, 'we can find out how to unseal our minds when we get back." Zell threw a withering glance at Aidan to punctuate his words, but instead of shrinking back or replying with a sarcastic remark the smaller man simply took it. Aidan raised his head and made eye contact with Zell. All Zell could see in Aidan's chocolate brown eyes were sadness and pain. Instantly Zell's mind was cast towards Squall and what could have easily been between him and the brunette lion.

Wait, thought Zell, where did that come from?

Squall stood impassive in the poorly lit room. He glanced across at Zell's face, but instead of seeing his friend's normal energetic expression he was greeted with a confused, pensive look. Squall instantly became worried about his friend. Unbeknownst to practically everyone Squall had always thought of Zell as his best friend, the idea of Zell hurt or lost almost literally made him sick.

Probably just uncomfortable without the guardians thought Squall, but still he was troubled. There was something else being held back, something somewhere that Squall didn't like, almost like a bitter aftertaste, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts Squall once again took the lead.

"How long before the 'rok is flight worthy? He asked

"It'll be another 48 hours, unless something else happens. We had to stop for the day because it was getting dark, we had a few battles on the way back." Seifer replied, his usual sarcasm coming through loud and clear.

"Good. As soon as we can we're out of here and back to Balamb,' Squall stated, 'until then I suggest we all get some rest so we can finish the repairs as soon as possible."

Zell lay in one of the three beds that he and his friends had found themselves in when they first arrived in Aidan's home. The soft brown sheets were pulled up around him as he struggled to get to sleep, with no success.

Suddenly he felt a weight in the bed with him. Rolling over, about to punch Seifer for even trying anything like that he was beyond surprised when he felt a pair of lips clamp down on his and a tongue gently start to massage his own.

After a few seconds of this sweet pleasure Zell finally came to his senses and pushed the other body away from him ever so slightly. As his eyes became adjusted to the gloomy room he was able to make out the other figure in his bed, who was slowly wrapping his arms around Zell's waist, pulling him tighter and closer to him.

It was Squall.

"Squall, what the hell are you doing?" Whispered Zell fiercely, trying to keep control and give the impression that he wasn't enjoying the gentle rubbing motions Squall was making on his firm stomach and chest.

Again Squall drew himself up and kissed Zell deeply at the same time pulling the blonde warrior close to him, skin touching skin. Squall locked his arms around Zells waist, his hands travelling up and down the sapphire-eyed man's back making sure there was no way that the younger man was going to escape from the lions tight, but loving embrace.

Again Zell put up a fight, but his resistance was starting to wane rapidly.

"Squall, stop it. Rinoa…"

"I want you Zell, not Rinoa." Uttered Squall softly into Zell's ear, punctuating the statement by nibbling on it gently, teasingly.

That pushed Zell completely over the edge. He kissed Squall back with passion, all the blood draining from his brain and rushing straight to his crotch. Every touch, every gentle kiss and every smooth caress drove Zell further and further into madness. Squall started to move his slender frame in a passionate rhythm against Zell's muscular body.

Zell suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, his body drenched with sweat despite the cool night air being let in through the window.

Dear Hyne, he thought, what a dream.

He looked down at the now stained sheets.

Fuck, he thought, how am I going to explain this? It's not enough I'm having these dreams about Squall, but now I have a full-blown wet dream in someone else's bed, how embarrassing!

Zell collapsed back on the pillow silently. Well, it was worth it, he thought as a smile formed on his face. He rolled gently over on his pillow, closed his eyes and tried once more to fall asleep. The last image that burned onto his brain before unconsciousness took him was Squall's face, framed so perfectly by the brown locks of hair dangling on his face.

Zell's mind was in turmoil. "Well one thing's for sure; I'll never be able to look at him the same way again. What the hell am I going to do? How can I ever tell Squall that I may think of him in that way?"

On that final, depressing thought, Zell drifted to sleep, replaying his vivid dream over and over in his head, not noticing the miniscule smile on Squall's face.


	7. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: The Lion and The Tiger_

The sun rose slowly over the barren wastes of the Centra desert. Creeping up gently from behind mountains and hills, spilling gentle light on ground that had long stopped producing any kind of life at all. Slowly the beautiful light of dawn reached a small home that was set in the shadow of some of the continent's largest mountains, the shade of which provided welcome relief from the harsh mid-day and afternoon sun.

Amazingly slowly the dawn started to fill up a small room in the house, chasing away the shadows of night and leaving nothing but a beautiful brilliance in its place.

Inside the room three friends lay asleep, tired from the rigors and revelations of the days before and enjoying the pleasant rest that they took whenever they could. For the moment all three felt safe and secure, despite everything that had happened.

Squall woke up slowly, the harsh but soft light of day breaking through his eyelids, inexorably bringing him back to the land of the living.

He let out a soft groan, nothing loud, almost like the sound a child would make when it's mother shouted that it was time for school and the child's body wanted nothing more than another hours gentle rest.

After a few moments Squall realised that it would be impossible to got back to sleep. It was time to wake up. It was almost time to go home, just another day or two. The hope of seeing his girlfriend, no his fiancée filled his heart with hope. And yet…

Squall shook his head slightly trying to clear away the cobwebs that had been spun in there during the night. But even that couldn't shake the feeling that something was, off. He put the thought to the back of his mind, ignoring it for the moment. It was probably just because he was missing Rinoa; after all didn't couples that were apart miss each other?

Getting up slowly Squall looked over at his two friends, Seifer was sleeping soundly and snoring ever so slightly. Zell…

As Squall looked over at his best friend and second in command he smiled. Zell looked like an angel, innocent, sensitive and vulnerable. People of course knew the truth was quite different; Zell was like himself, a trained mercenary and a hired killer capable of defending himself in any way possible. Even so Squall still gazed at Zell and felt a deep sense of kinship with the sleeping blonde, something deeper than he would ever have thought possible 6 years ago.

Moving across the room, the warm wood floor pleasant on his feet Squall slowly and quietly took his clothes out of the drawer and left the room, heading down the corridor, past the entrance to the previously hidden workshop and entered the bathroom.

Just looking around the room Squall and his heightened instincts could tell that their host was already awake. A few towels were in a laundry basket and the shower floor was slightly wet from use earlier on.

Squall sighed gently, he didn't want to think about the enigma he and his friends had stumbled onto just yet because it was far too early in the morning.

After a quick shower he felt much better. Squall got dressed and combed his long brown locks, failing miserably to keep them out of his eyes. Squall's eyes lit up with mirth, controlling his hair was the one thing he just couldn't do, it just constantly fell back into his eyes.

Leaving the bathroom Squall made his way through the house towards the kitchen on the other side of the corridor to the bedroom he had come from. Stepping into the room, he noticed that the door to the patio was open and was blowing softly in a slight breeze. Curious and his hunger temporarily forgotten he looked outside.

On the smooth cold rock that formed the house's front stood Aidan, going gently through the very familiar Tai Chi exercises, his eyes closed and his mind totally focused on performing each movement accurately and precisely. Aidan flowed like water from move to move, gentle but deadly. He wore just a simple pair of sweats, showing off an elegent build, similar to that of a dancer, each muscle well trained and firm, not an ounce of fat on his frame. Several large scars, all precisely the same angle ran along his chest and down onto his stomach almost as if he had been repeatedly slashed with some sharp object. The scar along the middle was deepest, but all three ran diagonally across his body.

Just looking at him Squall instinctively knew he was looking at a SeeD. His body was similar, if a little more honed than the other mans, but still Aidan bore the invisible mark of someone who had been training for dangers that he would be thrown into, if he survived the rigorous tests put on him by teachers and instructors alike.

Squall leaned against the frame of the door, watching for a moment Aidan's exercises. Tai Chi wasn't really Squall's thing, although they did have a class for it back in Balamb. Apparently it helped loosen the mind and control the body, unfortunately he'd never got anything out of it the few times he'd tried.

Zell on the other hand was a different story, every morning without fail he'd exercise. Squall knew this for a fact because he'd seen him do it a couple of times. It was, to say the very least hypnotic. Squall could never resist watching the young martial artist stretch, move and rotate his body, making the muscles stand out and the elegent sinews become as hard as solid copper.

Breaking his mind away from thoughts of Zell, he turned his attention back to the man before him. He was elegant certainly in the way he moved, but it was the elegance of a man who was fighting for peace with himself, a sight Squall was familiar with after years of watching cadets grow up in a tough and harsh environment like Garden.

Aidan's movements became slower, more explicit and more controlled, smooth gestures and motions became more powerful as his morning exercise ended slowly.

After he'd finished Aidan was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, evidence of his workout. His breathing however was regular, not too deep as if he was in total control.

He turned around and was visibly surprised to see Squall standing by the door, but he recovered quickly.

"Leonhart" he greeted with a curt nod of his head.

Squall simply remained impassive, instead stepped forward slightly. However before he could utter a word a flock of birds past above them, their gentle chattering filling the space between the two men. He looked up at the disturbance and recognising the birds and as he slowly counted them; an old rhyme he'd been taught by Edea at the orphanage emerged from the holes in his memory.

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver..." he intoned softly.

"Six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a moment of perfect bliss." Aidan finished, saying the words almost reverently and slowly like they were part of a life long ago.

The two men made eye contact and in that moment Squall realised what he'd been missing.

"You were at the orphanage,' he stated, allowing no room for question, 'you're like us, one of Matron's children."

Aidan smiled. It was a soft smile, the smile of a man who was lost in his memories.

He uttered a simple "Yes." Then made to move past Squall and back into the house. Squall, however stopped him and pushed him back slightly, he was annoyed.

"Why didn't you tell us before, why didn't you tell us the truth?"

"Would you have believed me if I had?' he retorted, a pained look on his face, 'It was better that you just thought I was some mad hermit who'd shut himself off from the world."

"I'm still not sure that you're not." Squall quipped.

"Very funny Squall,' Aidan murmured, 'but you've changed. You used to be a stoic asshole that never had any words or jokes for anyone. Now you're almost normal, what happened?"

"I met my fiancée, she helped bring me out of my shell. I owe her a lot, so I protect her." Was Squall's simple, but rational reply.

"Oh' said Aidan, a sarcastic tone in his voice, 'Rinoa wasn't it?"

"That's right"

"Isn't she a Sorceress?"

"The Sorceress, yes." Why did I just say THE sorceress? Thought Squall. Isn't Matron a sorceress as well? For all we know there could be more of them out there. His head started to pound again as it had been doing frequently over the last day or two, ever since he arrived here. Just a headache, just a headache Squall repeated to himself.

Aidan seemed to notice Squall's sudden confusion, but ignored it. However Squall was eager for information about the other man.

"How can you remember all this and we can't? If you're SeeD then surely you used the guardians as well."

Aidan paused for a moment to consider his response.

"I did' he confirmed, choosing his words carefully as the warming air gently dried the sweat off his lean body, 'I stopped using them after the war. I didn't want to forget."

"But even so, your mind must still be like Trabian Cheese, full of holes." Replied Squall

"No.' stated Aidan flatly, 'the GFs don't eat memories and they don't simply destroy them, they just re-arrange our minds to slowly eradicate our identities."

Squall was appalled. That was impossible; everything that Doctor Odine had created, everything that SeeD had used was done to destroy identities?

"But why?"

On this question Aidan remained silent, and a heavy silence fell between the two men it's bleakness contrasted heavily with the day's dawn that was now getting bright and brighter. Squall looked at Aidan, but the other man refused to make eye contact, and finally uttered a simple reply.

"I've no idea."

Squall decided to change the topic of conversation to something more important.

"How did you get those scars? From Garden?" asked Squall as he rubbed his own old wound that Seifer had inflicted so long ago.

"Nope, I was in the cathedral that Ultimecia had put in the middle of her castle. There was this pink haze there. I thought I saw something just past it, so I stepped into it and suddenly this bell rang out and next thing I know there's this huge, evil looking monster in front of me. Dumb ass that I am I decided to fight, I barely got even a hit in when it slashed me with a claw and sword. I guess I was knocked out, next thing I know I…' Aidan faltered and for a split second Squall could have sworn he saw a tear in the corner of the other's eye, 'I was back in normal time."

Squall realised instantly what had happened, his team had rung the church bell to release the OMEGA weapon, but hadn't fought it. It was only when they had worked out what it was for that Squall, Zell and Rinoa had fought and destroyed the ultimate monster. He had nearly killed a man he didn't even know was there, a man who had now saved their lives. Squall kept silent at this, not knowing what to say.

"What about the guns?" he asked. He was still curious about the guns that Zell and himself had found in Aidan's room, those had yet to be explained.

"How did you…' began Aidan, then realisation dawned and a smirk graced his lips, "Of course, you must have found them when you went through my things." He paused, collecting his thoughts, 'the guns belong. Belonged,' he corrected himself, 'to my late wife Katrina."

Squall's jaw almost dropped, but his face still retained the time-honoured stoicism he had taken so long to develop. This man had been married? But what…

"She was killed in the attack on Trabia.' Aidan continued, anticipating the obvious question, 'that's why I went after Seifer and wanted him dead. Not because I thought he was a traitor, not because I remembered him from Balamb Garden, but because he killed my wife, the only family I'd ever known."

"And that was why you isolated yourself here?"

"Sort of, I wanted to remember her. There's an old saying that a person is the sum of his memories. I wanted to be more than the sum of my parts." Aidan's head dropped slightly, his brown eyes slightly glazed.

Squall suddenly found himself understanding this man, his motives and his reasons. After all wouldn't he do the same if something happened to his friends? Wouldn't he do the same if something happened to Rinoa, or Zell? Why the thoughts of Zell again? Wondered Squall mentally. What's the matter with me?

Reaching out Squall put his hand on his shoulder.

"I understand." He said softly.

Aidan backed away suddenly at the gentle touch as if burned. He looked up sharply and met Squall's grey eyes.

Squall also took a step back, something was still wrong, but what? Hadn't he done that to Zell dozens of times, helped his best friend out of troubles. Had he got used to Zell relaxing at his touch? Again his head started to throb. 'Damn headaches' he thought, 'must focus, must focus'.

"I want you to come back with us." Stated Squall, his words instantly breaking the fragile bubble that neither man had noticed around them.

"No"

"Fine,' replied Squall, 'then I order you to."

Aidan laughed, a slow mocking laugh that was almost an exact imitation of Seifer's, a laugh that had no depth and no humour to it.

"I don't take orders from you Leonhart, I don't take orders from anyone. Not anymore."

"I can't let you stay here. The stolen technology needs to be returned and you could have valuable information to benefit SeeD." Said Squall, attempting to reason with the man in front of him.

"I'm my own man now Squall,' Aidan retorted, 'I'm happy here, away from trouble. I can be myself, something that I never could be before and I can't change who I am."

"Whatever,' replied Squall,'but to me it just sounds like you're running away from who you are. We're SeeD, we always will be and nothing can change that. You're just afraid. You're right, none of us can change who we are, but we can refuse to face ourselves, which is exactly what you're doing."

Squall simply turned away, heading back into the house. The 'Rok needed repairing as soon as possible, and as soon as Zell, Seifer and himself got away from this place the better.

Aidan stood for a few moments longer, the sun gently warming his back when he heard another flock of birds pass overhead. Looking up he repeated the old words that his Matron had taught him.

"Seven for a secret never to be told."

After the flock had passed over Aidan went back into his home. His secret, the one that no one knew and that he scarcely admitted to himself would remain his own. Aidan shook his head slightly to clear his mind and focus his thoughts; there was work to do.

After a fairly uneventful breakfast the four men headed out into the desert to carry on repairs to the damaged craft. It was the first time that Squall had seen the pride and joy of Balamb since the attack that left them stranded and he braced himself for the worse.

Squall, following the others over the brow of a small dune, very nearly gasped when he saw the sight that lay before him.

The pride and joy of Balamb Garden lay in a deep trench that Squall could remember clambering out of a few days before. However neither he, nor his friends had seen the full extent of the damage. Pieces of electrical equipment were scattered all over the trench, as well as further away. The hull was mostly intact, with a few holes here and there that were being repaired slowly.

Squall breathed a small sigh of relief; at least the auto-repair function was still active because otherwise they could have been really fucked. However he was wondering which could kill him first, one of the Dragon things that first attacked them, or the army of Garden and Military accountants when they would see the damage that had been done to the SeeD flagship.

Steadily, with Squall now in the lead, the foursome made their way down into the furrow carved by the now inoperative 'Rok. Entering his nine-digit access code Zell disabled the defence systems and stepped through into the ship.

"What's still to be done?" Squall asked, looking around at the torn out components and smashed screens, wondering how in the hell they were ever going to get the ship off the ground.

Surprisingly Seifer was the one to reply. "The auto guidance system is currently lying in several thousand tiny pieces outside lover. We started repairing manual control yesterday, but we hit a few snags." Seifer strode over to one of the nearby water machines and grabbed a bottle; thankfully it was still cool which indicated there was nothing wrong with the power.

After he took a nice relaxing hit, he threw the bottle to Zell who caught it and got soaked. Seifer had left the cap on the bottle loose and now sported a smirk on his face.

"Oops" he said sarcastically, half expecting to see steam rising from Zell judging by the colour he had turned.

Squall threw a vicious looking glance at the two blondes, but not before noticing how cute Zell looked when he was mad. Aidan picked up on Seifer's explanation.

"The MGS or Manual Guidance System relies on seven main inputs from the power cells…" He began.

Squall interrupted testily, "I know how it works, I pilot the fucking thing. What I want to know is what's wrong?"

"Three of the seven connections are broken, here, here and here," he said, pointing at a small holographic tablet that was part of the 'Rok's internal communications system, "We don't know why. All three connections check fine and so does the connection from the main power grid to the station that these are tied into."

"Fine,' said Squall looking over the schematic with a critical eye, 'what else needs to be done?"

"Other than that, not much." Chipped in Zell, irritated at Seifer as he dripped onto the floor slowly, 'some work needs to be done on the anti-grav generator and the engine casings, but the MGS is the main thing."

Squall instantly slipped into commander mode. "Zell, you and Aidan get on the electrics, after all you're the best ones for it. Seifer and myself will repair the generator and the casings."

Where did that come from? Thought Squall as Seifer and Zell practically snapped to attention, whereas Aidan simply stood there, his hands in his pockets. Zell walked off towards the bridge and the main electrical systems with Aidan following him, still holding the wiring diagram he had shown Squall.

"Aidan,' Squall called, 'the main fault looks as if it's in section 3, junction 9. Those other connections are backed up from there, look there."

Aidan turned to face Squall and looked down at his pad. A strange look passed over his face only for a second and then was gone, if Squall had to guess he would have said it looked liked jealousy.

After the brief, but interesting look that Squall had been given, he turned around and faced Seifer who had a lecherous grin plastered on his face.

"Coming Princess?" he teased, in his usual manner.

"Whatever" mumbled Squall, he was lost in thought. There were questions that needed answering and only Seifer would be able to answer, even if he had to beat the facts out of him.

Squall allowed himself a little smirk at this thought and this didn't go un-noticed by Seifer.

"For Hyne's sake Squall don't smile, I don't want the world to end before I get back to Balamb."

With that last sarcastic barb out of the way Seifer strode elegantly down into the bowels of the ship, followed soon after by Squall who, had Seifer turned around, would have seen a deeply pensive and determined look on his face.


	8. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Times Long Past_

The engines throbbed and whirred around Seifer and Squall. The massive amounts of power needed to generate the 'Rok's flight were housed in various containers along the metal room, even standing in the room worried Squall. If one of the engine casings were to shatter mid flight, the chain reaction could easily obliterate a continent, that kind of power would intimidate anyone, as such it was vital that everything was secure.

But first, thought Squall, I want some answers. Drawing the Lionheart Squall softly caught up to Seifer and held the tip of it against his back. The reaction was almost instantaneous on Seifer's part.

"Hmmm, didn't know you were that happy to see me pussy cat." He mocked.

"I want answers." Was Squall's gruff and blunt reply.

"He's already given them to us,' retorted Seifer, 'I can't add anymore to what A's already said."

"He's told us some of what's happened, but not everything. I want to know what you know about him"

Seifer looked into Squall's cloudy eyes, almost as if he was trying to assess how serious he was. Seifer couldn't hold the ice- cold gaze of the lion for too long and looked away, sighing as he did so.

"I don't remember much, only a few bits here and there,' he began, his head resting on his chest, 'the only clear memory I have is about 2 years before the final SeeD exam that we took."

"We would have been about 15 then."

"That's right, I was with Fuu and Rai 'cause we'd just been appointed to the Disciplinary Committee, honestly I remember it as one of the happiest days of my life."

Seifer's voice took on a gentle tone, in sharp contrast to his usual one as he became lost in the memories that formed such an integral part of his personality.

"I was taking some valuable chicken torturing time after I got my new rank, and it ended up with me pushing him into that nice new fountain that Cid had just purchased. Whatever happened to Cid and Matron anyway?"

"They moved back to Centra after the war, Cid started up the orphanage again using some Garden finds, Matron went back with him and some of the white SeeD." Squall felt it best not to mention the fact that there were a lot of orphans that needed care after the last war.

"Oh, I suppose I should go and see them after we leave."

"It may be best, put her mind at ease, she was worried about you. You were talking about when you got your rank?" Said Squall, masking his eagerness to learn more.

"Yeah, I'd thrown chicken in the fountain and was gloating over him, as usual when I found myself hurtling head first in after him. I wasn't very happy."

Squall struggled to repress the ghost of a smile, the idea of Seifer being pushed into the fountain, straight after Zell was almost impossible, yet the image seemed to stir a memory somewhere, a memory that refused to surface. But no one had ever stood up to Seifer during all the time at Garden, except himself.

"When I looked up, there was this one guy standing there, being held by Fuu and Rai, he wasn't afraid, just concerned about Chicken-wuss, he was the only ever person apart from you to tell me to fuck off."

Squall looked up sharply at that statement, shocked. Were all his memories of being Seifer's arch-nemesis just wishful thinking?

"Don't worry Squall, you're still the only one who ever managed to repeatedly piss me off, everyone else has done it at least once. Honestly though, I don't think I've ever met a guy who tried to be like you so completely." Said Seifer with a mocking wink.

"What do you mean?" Asked Squall

"It's all part of the story." Seifer enigmatically replied.

Squall was quietly relieved. If Aidan had been a heavy contender with Squall it would have meant that almost all of Squall's memories were fucked up beyond any kind of recognition.

Almost like a lightening bolt the image of a small boy standing in the rain looking up cut across Squall's brain, at least this time he was able to understand it with clarity.

"I was pissed. Hell I was more than pissed. I just threw the little bastard into the fountain. Except, he hit his head on the way in, almost cracked his skull open. I was about to brand him with a small pocket-knife I had on me when Zell jumped in the way. I nearly slashed his arm to pieces that day."

"So that's where he got the scar on his arm. He never told me." Uttered Squall, in almost disbelief.

"Yeah, but I don't think he really remembered how he got it just that I did it,' replied Seifer, still lost in his memories. He wasn't looking forward to explaining to Squall what happened after that, 'Next I heard Zell and the other guy were in the infirmary, under the care of the good doctor. Whenever I saw Chicken-wuss after that, Aidan was always with him, became a regular groupie."

"So he just hung around Zell day in and day out?"

"Kinda, you see Aidan cared. He cared about himself, to be honest I think he cared about most things, especially Zell, at least after that incident with the fountain. I think that was kind of his curse, he cared to much about too many people, even so I never saw him with many friends. Honestly I don't even think he had any. He was and still is I guess, an outsider but not by choice, unlike you. He never really had the social skills to get on, people just ignored him and eventually he went away. Even so I don't think he ever gave up caring."

Squall was confused. Very few SeeDs were able to handle their emotions during an operation, most had a set way of freezing them out during battle. To care too much was not only a curse, but something frowned upon, it could easily mean the death of a team member. Hover one phrase Seifer used intrigued Squall. "What do you mean, 'especially Zell'?"

Seifer took a deep breath, there was going to be no easy way to break this so the best way was to be direct.

"Zell and Aidan were…seeing each other, kind of a Romeo and Romeo thing."

"Zell's … gay?' stammered Squall, almost not believing the very words that came out of his own mouth, 'that's impossible, he's been seeing Crystel back at the garden for Hyne knows how long and before that…" Squall trailed off.

"Before that…' sneered Seifer, 'you can't remember can you? Your best friend and you can't remember? Truth is, chickie's gay. Best except it and get it over with Squall, cause it ain't changing."

"But Aidan, he said he was married, that some guns we found in his room belonged to his late wife who was killed in the Trabia attack."

Seifer's face tightened in confusion and became pensive.

"I don't know about that,' he responded, 'all I know is that one minute he was barely around and the next I never saw him again. Rumour was he'd been transferred to take the SeeD exam early, I don't think him and Zell ever spoke since."

"That would explain why Zell said he didn't know him, but why'd they break up if they were so close?" Asked Squall; desperately trying to mask the fact he was struggling to assimilate this new information about a man he thought he'd known for most of his life.

"Honestly, I don't know, that's a question that only Aidan can answer and I've a feeling he won't answer even if we did ask him." Seifer retorted, with no annoyance in his voice, only questioning.

"Yeah, well I intend to find out, but first lets get these engine casings fixed, I don't like the idea of taking off and having these explode mid-flight."

Glass crunched gently underfoot as Zell and Aidan walked onto the bridge. Each monitor was shattered and the electronics inside each one hung out, but instead of spluttering as they had done when the craft first crashed they were dead.

"Holy Hyne,' cursed Aidan, 'I never realised it was this bad,' he consulted his small palm computer and then gestured at a small access hatch in the wall, just beside the upturned pilot's seat, 'the controls we want are in there."

"We need to bypass the main control systems and access the emergency backups,' said Zell, 'as well as that we need to find out what's blocking the main propulsion systems or we'll never be able to get this crate off the ground."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as Aidan and Zell proceeded to prise the cover off the control panel that was broken only when Zell was able to send the front flying across the room with a clatter.

The two men bent down, focused completely on their task. They gently rerouted the systems elegantly, all communication non-verbal. The tension was obvious on both men's faces; they both knew that one wrong connection and the entire ship could explode. Mistakes could not afford to be made, a reality of battle and life that was drilled into every SeeD candidate right from the start. Until finally with a sigh, Zell rolled back, relieved at the correct and fully functioning result.

"Well that should do it." He stated, the relief evident in the blonde man's voice.

"That's about it, we just need to make the final few connections and everything'll hopefully be up and running." Aidan responded, his voice it's usual tone.

"I'll get that sorted,' Zell said, bouncing up in his usual manner, thankful that the task was nearly over, 'you just head to the ops console and make sure that the communications system works ok."

Zell had barely gone a step before he stumbled over a piece of debris on the floor and, trying to break his fall, pushed his hand out to grip the side of a chair. However in the process a piece of jagged metal sliced open his arm where an old scar given by Seifer was imprinted onto his flesh. With a slight gasp he clutched his injured arm, where soft rivulets of blood tricked down onto the floor.

In an instant Aidan was at his side, one arm gently around Zells injured arm, keeping it steady and looking over the wound with a clinical eye.

Memories flashed like lightening across Zell's brain, previously forgotten experiences surfacing with a crash to the front of his mind.

_Are you ok?_

_Yeah I'm fine, Seifer's just an asshole. How's your head? Seifer threw you pretty hard 'gainst that fountain._

_I'll live; I've got a thick skull. That looks pretty deep._

_Doc says it's not, just needs a few stitches. I'm Zell._

_I'm Aidan, I'd offer to shake your hand, but I don't think that'd be good._

_Are you sure _you're ok?

"Hmm?" mumbled Zell.

"I asked if you were ok Zell." Aidan repeated with a questioning look is his eyes and voice.

Zell looked at Aidan and pulled away from him with a sharp jerk.

"I know you,' he began, another dormant memory hurtling to the surface 'Tiger?" he asked cautiously.

Aidans reaction to the name was electric. He staggered back, the look on his face a bizarre horror shock and yet relief was also evident in his eyes.

"That's what I called you wasn't it? Tiger? And you called me your kitten cause you said I liked to play with my claws." Continued Zell with a far off look in his eyes.

"You…. You remember?" Aidan asked in a voice that could only be described as a whisper.

Zell stood up, ignoring the pain in his arm.

"Remember? REMEMBER? I'm surprised I ever forgot! You left me you son of a bitch, you ignored me and then left!" He enunciated his final word with a well placed, and for Zell, soft punch to the stomach, causing Aidan to double over.

"I don't remember our fights being this bad kitten, and we always made up after them." Gasped out Aidan, still dealing with the stabbing pains wracking his body from Zells powerful punch.

Zell threw his arms around Aidan, pulling him into a tight hug, enjoying the familiarity of the gesture after so very long, savouring the all-pervasive scent of vanilla that Aidan seemed to have naturally.

"Why did you leave you bastard? Was it that bad being with me?"

Aidan gently pulled away from Zells arm, and stepped back slightly, putting a small amount of space between them.

"You know that's not true kitten, it was only ever you."

"Then what happened? One minute we were fighting over a mission you had and the next week you were ignoring me. What happened?"

Aidan sighed and rested against the back of an upturned chair.

"I was on the mission when the team found a small statue half buried in some sand, it was my stupid idea to touch it. A guardian force ripped out half of my mind and got rid of my memories, imagine all the power of a guardian force being pushed through your mind, I completely shut down for a week. When I came too I could barely remember my name. It was like being raped mentally and psychologically. Worst of all I forgot you."

Zell's mouth dropped open. Memories came flooding back to him moments ago and now he discovered that the guardian forces, the forces that all of them had to that for the defeat of Ultimecia and the saving of the world, had seemingly ripped out a crucial part of his life.

Almost even more disturbing was the fact that Zell now knew for a fact he was gay. He'd thought he'd known it for years, but now it was certain and lodged in his mind. One question though was nagging at Zell.

"How come you remembered all this and I didn't?" He asked.

"When I stopped using the guardian forces, some memories came back, very slowly,' began Aidan, failing to meet his ex-lovers eyes, 'but sometimes huge chunks came back at once. I think that's what happened with you. I'm sorry Zell, but honestly I think what happened may have been for the best."

"What the fuck do you mean? I loved you!" Zell exploded

"No you didn't,' whispered Aidan, almost reverently, as he looked down at the floor, 'But I think that we both enjoyed the lie,' Aidan moved his head up to meet Zell's eyes and gently reached out a hand to stroke Zell's cheek, 'we both know that it's not me you want."

A soft chiming came from one of the damaged consoles and after quickly rapping a bandage around Zell's wound both men headed towards the noise. Zell stepped up to the console and, after pressing a control, a small holographic display appeared.

"Internal communications are back on line and the anti-grav generator is working fine. I guess Seif and Squall were able to fix the casing." Stated Zell as he read from the display, 'If you just finish the connections we'll be ready to rock and roll."

"On it." Confirmed Aidan as he headed over to a small control box on the wall and began to work.

Zell tapped in a small series of commands on the display to activate the comms system in the engine room.

"Squall, the communications are up, the anti-grav generator is functional and Aidan's just finishing a few connections so we can control ourselves in flight. We're almost ready to go."

Closing the channel with a keystroke Zell turned towards Aidan. He knew there was no point in waiting for a response. He knew that one wouldn't come.

Emotions were running wild in Zell's mind as he looked as his recently found ex-lover. It was eerie, they'd know each other years ago and they knew each other now, but this man in front of him wasn't whom he'd known years ago. His tiger wasn't hot and cold like this one, the only tiger he'd ever known was warm, caring and compassionate, especially with him..

As well as that Aidan had seen the truth and told Zell he knew how he felt towards Squall. It was always a secret obsession with Zell and he thought he kept it well hidden. Obviously not.

"Tiger,' said Zell. Aidan his head around slightly to indicate he was listening, 'Squall and Seif are coming back up and we'll do a few last checks."

"Ok Zell, I'll be done in a second, then we can run the pre-flight checks. I'm not sure though if the intake/output ratio is right on these settings, could you check them for me?"

"On it." replied Zell, before disappearing down the elevator shaft to perform the check.

The moment Zell was gone Aidan resumed his task. After he'd finished reinitialising the flight connections he crossed over to the main control panel and started to key in commands. It was unfortunate that Zell had remembered. Hell, it was heartbreaking that he'd had to look in Zell's beautiful eyes and force him to face the truth, but there was no other way. Just like there was no other way for him to do this.

Crossing his fingers Aidan set a countdown on the program that he'd just created and prayed that it would remain invisible for only a little while longer. The countdown screen minimised and only the raw directions screen was available. It had worked.

The elevator on the far side of the room whirred into life again and Aidan barely had enough time to make it back to the auxiliary control panel and make it look like he was finishing his job.

Zell emerged, followed by Seifer and Squall. Instantly Aidan could tell that something had happened, as Squall was looking at him with very carefully controlled hate.

"All the repairs are completed,' began Squall, 'we'll get the pre-flight checks done over night and get going in the morning.

Aidan looked down at the floor, refusing to meet the eyes of any of his former comrades. "Fine,' he began, 'but I want to check the seals on that external door. They looked a little strained from the impact."

"Agreed,' replied Squall, his piercing eyes firmly focused on Aidan, who for some reason seemed slightly nervous, 'you check those out while we set the computer up to perform the checks."

With a slight, cursory glance and without as mush as a 'see you later' Aidan left the cockpit and headed down the lift towards the exit.

It was a miracle he kept himself from running. The program he'd set in motion would be activating soon and there was no way in hell that he was going to be on the ship when it went up. He walked to the door, holding his emotions in check and keyed in the exit sequence. Then, stepping outside into the blistering heat of the Centra desert, he locked the main entrance as best he could, stopping the three crewmembers from getting out when the time came.

He walked a few metres away from the ship, out of the crater and out of the imminent blast zone. His program would activate any moment, he thought with a grim satisfaction. He knew, deep down though, there could be no other way.

Zell, Squall and Seifer all stood by their assigned positions and each one kept making slight and not very subtle glances at each other. Squall was worried about Zell, about what had happened before and made a mental note to talk with his best friend as soon as they landed at Balamb tomorrow.

Zell likewise had noticed almost instantly something different about Squall and wondered what Seifer had said to him.

Seifer on the other hand had noticed the cut on Zell's arm, just where a very familiar scar was. To say the least Seifer was curious and was very anxious to get Zell alone and find out what happened.

The small holographic display set in front of Squall shimmered into life.

"Something's wrong,' he mused, 'the computer isn't allowing the programming of any pre-flight checks."

"Did we miss something?" asked Zell, aloud.

"Couldn't have,' chipped in Seifer, 'my console says everything is running at 20 efficiency, just enough to get us home."

"Zell, did you and Aidan set the engine start-up running?" Squall asked.

"No, why?"

"Because they are."

"What?' exclaimed Zell, 'But if the engines start while we're still in landing mode we could explode!"

Suddenly on each display in front of Seifer, Zell and Squall a small countdown window appeared.

00:00:04:35

The numbers scrolled backwards as the sound of the engines grew louder and louder, shaking each piece of loose debris.

"What the fuck?" yelled Seifer in astonishment.

Squall wheeled round to face the others. "Where's Aidan?" he demanded

00:00:02:54

"Look!" shouted Zell, pointing out of the cockpit window. There, on the side of the furrow that had been carved into the desert by the 'Rok, stood Aidan, looking down at the ship and at them with a sad, sorrowful look in his eyes that was barely visible.

The sound of the engines grew to almost fever pitch as the countdown on the screen came to its inevitable conclusion.

00:00:01:02

The 'Rok started to shake as the engines power built up more and more. In a last ditch attempt to get out all three immediately started for the lift, knowing deep down that it was too late.

00:00:00:00

Each display flashed a single, simple message:

"Program Complete"

The engines whine became almost subsonic as the three friends looked out of the cockpit window at the so-called friend who had seemingly betrayed them all and signed their death warrant.


	9. Intermission I

_Intermission: No Time, No Place._

The confines of the prison were driving it insane. That is, more insane than it already was.

There was barely enough room here to house its thoughts, never mind its body, but soon. Very soon its time would come.

The Serpentine creature metaphysically curled itself tighter around the mind that it inhabited, struggling to maintain the already tenuous hold on the owner. After all, the slightest mistake and all it's plans would come to naught and that was unacceptable.

Had the creature a mouth, it would have smiled. Things at long last, after literally millennia, were finally happening as they should have, before the accursed Hyne had banished it to the outer most dimensions, imprisoning it in a cell with no bars or walls. But very soon…

The thoughts and plans were good to pass the time with, but the creature had things to do. The connection it held with its reserve plan was already waning, much faster than it had anticipated. It had to go back to its original plan, one conceived long before the bodies of these children had even been envisioned.

Using the subtle connections Hyne placed in all humans, it was able to slowly gain control of various people, although at the moment the control was limited to a few adjustments of the primitive's perception. It pleased it to know that it was able to use Hynes own devices to reclaim what it had lost millennia ago.

The body it inhabited trudged slowly along the corridor, the slow place maddening to a creature that once upon a time was able to move at the speed of thought, when it came across one small human that could help its cause a great deal.

One that had power, albeit in a raw untrained form.

Reaching out into the simple human mind before it the connection was made and the link solidified. One more convert for the new future, it mused with no small amount of satisfaction. For the smallest of a microsecond the grip on the mind it inhabited relaxed and a slight tremor spread through the human's body. Stringently control of the motor functions was reaffirmed. That must not happen again. Control was everything and everything relied upon control. Control was its survival.

"Quis? Are you ok?" Rinoa asked, concerned as she reached out to steady her friend who seemed to have had a tremor of some kind.

"I'm fine Rin, just… I'm just worried about Squall and the others, they've been gone for almost three weeks now and we last heard from them a week ago. It's not like Squall to be so quiet for so long. It doesn't seem right."

A pensive look passed across Rinoa's beautiful features for a moment before her face cleared and a smile appeared on her lips.

"I know Quis, but I'm sure there're fine. I can feel it, kind of. Squall and I have always had this sort of … bond, we just know each other that well I guess. I know I'll see Squall again and I know he'll be safe and sound."

Again a slight shudder passed through Quistis' body as she looked deep into Rinoa's brown eyes, then she finally smiled, as if a large weight had been lifted.

"Yes, yes I suppose you're right. I'd best get up to the office actually, there's so much paper work to do I just don't know how Squall copes!" She said, the burden of her responsibilities at Garden coming down around her.

Rinoa however was having none of it. There was something wrong with Quistis, some deeper fear that hadn't been dissuaded. She was concerned, and wanted to help. "Would you like to meet up for lunch?' she offered, eager to get Quistis to open up and speak her mind, 'The Sea View hotel in Balamb does great salads."

"That would be great, thanks Rin, if I see you here at about 1:30ish? I'm sure I can drag myself away from Squall's desk for a little while."

"No problem, I'll see you at half one then Quis."

"Looking forward to it Rin. Ja ne."

"Ja ne." replied Rinoa, in her usual upbeat manner and started to walk towards the Quad, where she was due to meet up with a few of her aides to go through the negotiations between Timber and Galbadia that she was adjudicating.

Quistis also turned around and headed toward the main lift to go up to the headmaster's office and as she did so a slight smile formed on her lips and her sapphire eyes twinkled gently.

The creature tightened its hold on the mind that was moving away slowly. Another human serving her, another step closer to its goals. Everything was going perfectly.

Control was established.


	10. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: Homeward Bound_

Aidan stood on the brow of the hill as the sand and dust from the ship's exhaust whirled around him like a miniature sandstorm. Slight bits of fused sand pelted themselves against his face as he wrapped his robe tighter around him, so much that he could only carry on staring at the 'Rok for a few seconds at a time before he had to turn away.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place and his mind was already trying to justify his actions. Deep down he knew that what he had done was not only stupid, but dangerous and the last thing he wanted was for others to come looking for him, especially after what Zell, Squall and Seifer had seen. Things couldn't change back to what they once were, no matter how much he may want them to. He was a exile and nothing could change that.

He didn't want anything to change that. He was content where he was, wasn't he?

Aidan's shoulders shrugged in resignation. There was nothing he could do now. It was far too late.

Inside the 'Rok Squall, Zell and Seifer were checking consoles frantically trying to stop the imminent explosion. None of the former screens were on fire or sparking, but the shudders that were running through the damaged ship were causing small pieces of glass to dislodge and shatter on the floor.

Zell and Seifer moved from display to display while Squall simply stood there, focused on the main console trying to repair the damage and stop the sequence. However the system had no way of being bypassed once lift-off had started and there was no way for them to get out of the landing mode.

"There's no way to bypass the systems in here,' said Squall, his voice slightly raised to make himself heard over the sound of the engines running at full capacity, 'and there's no chance for us to release the…"

There was a sudden thud the reverberated through the entire ship, attracting the attention of both Squall and Zell.

"What was that!" Zell asked.

"You ain't gonna believe this, but the landing systems just deactivated. It was all programmed in, the computer had complete control all the time." Seifer said in disbelief, as the ship started to hover gently above the ground.

The pounding throughout the ship gently drifted into the background and became nothing more than a subtle vibration. Gently at first, in an almost imperceptible way the battered ship started to lift off the ground leaving, in it's wake, a storm of dust and sand pushed upwards by the force of the engines.

Squall crossed the bridge and sat at the pilots seat.

"Give me manual control." He stated, emotionlessly.

"Not possible,' Zell replied with strain and tension in his voice, 'it's locked out."

Squall turned around sharply.

"Can you unlock it?"

"Not a chance, the ship's been programmed to fly in a straight line north. We won't have manual control until we hit the polar regions, which is a gonna be pretty nasty because the heating generators were wiped out in the crash." Zell replied.

The ship shifted slightly to the left as it struggled to get above the lip of the gully into which it had dug itself, the result of which sent Zell and Seifer stumbling slightly across the room. Seifer was able to steady himself on one of the consoles whereas Zell was caught by Squall.

Zell looked at Squall, silently thanking him for the catch and caught the questioning look in the taller man's eyes. Almost as if he wanted to know what had happened between him and Aidan while Seifer and himself were down in the engine room. Zell silently promised to answer that question, but until then something needed to be done about the ship.

Gently extracting himself from Squall Zell headed to another holographic command display, trying to find out what had been done.

As the 'Rok rose higher and higher into the air, finally clearing itself from the crater. Squall looked out of the viewing window. He could scarcely see Aidan amid the mixture of smoke and sand, but silently Squall made a promise. One he made with his whole heart and soul.

This was not over. Not yet.

The 'Rok manoeuvred itself so as to be in a better position to start it's northward trip and the engines yet again made an ear splitting sound as power built up in the bowels of the craft.

The flecks of sand and the chocking gas of the smoke were almost too much for Aidan as he remained on the ground, trying his best to stay till the very end when he would see the famed ship and it's even more famous crew head back to their home.

And for what was the first time in Aidan felt something beneath the surface. An emotion long buried and forgotten.

Regret.

Aidan tried to take solace in his conversation with Squall earlier that morning as he felt the heat of the engines bare down on him like a blanket.

"_I'm my own man now Squall,' _Damn right he was. He was free. _'I can't change who I am."_

He hadn't wanted to be a warrior. It was never like that, I was just a mould that he had been cast into as a child. He simply wanted to be loved, to be liked.

But he had become a warrior, a fighter. A fighter for life, for his friends and his family even though he'd had none of those.

'_You're running away from who you are.' _Squall had said.

No he wasn't, he was simply trying to break free.

'_You're SeeD, we always will be and nothing can change that.'_

No he wasn't. He was trained and forced to be that. That wasn't his nature. He was different.

'_None of us can change who we are, but we can refuse to face ourselves, which is exactly what you're doing.'_

It was never like that, was it? All of the best moments of his life had been taken away because he was SeeD. He'd met Zell and fallen in love. But Zell had never wanted him and he'd forgotten because of the guardian forces. Then there was Katrina, the happiest day of his life was when he married her, but then she'd been taken away from him, because of the war, because they were both SeeD.

The whole point of him finding this home and taking it over was to remember her and what he was.

But somehow, somehow he'd forgotten what he was. He'd given in to rage, to anger, hate and despair and he'd run away when he couldn't take anymore.

And he was still running away.

He'd forgotten that the best moments of his life had happened BECAUSE he was SeeD. Because of who he was, because of who they were.

Aidan twisted around to look at the hovering ship. He could tell that the engines were almost at full capacity from the heat and the sound they were giving off. His chance to remember his identity was about to leave and there was nothing that he could do. He'd once again forgotten what he was and convinced himself to send the others home as fast as possible. He was a fool.

Suddenly Aidan was startled out of his reverie by a massive roar in the distance. As he turned suddenly he saw a black shadow in the distance, one that was moving at a tremendous speed, but against the wind and with a sinking sensation realised he'd been more of a fool than before. Unhooking his sword from it's scabbard on his back, Aidan braced himself.

Roused by the sound and feelings of the engines the Onyx Dragon was coming back for its prey. Aidan had not only killed his past, but now he had killed his friends as well.

The cry of the dragon had not gone un-noticed by the crew of the 'Rok and a sudden rush of energy followed the startled silence as each member tried desperately to find someway to abort the lift-off sequence and land the ship. Suddenly Squall had an idea.

"How far above the ground are we?" Squall asked.

"Not too far,' was Seifer's reply, '11.75 feet."

"Are we out of the crash site though?"

Seifer glanced down at the display in front of him and manipulated several controls until the relevant answer appeared.

"Only just, the exhaust from the engines has put us just clear of the gully."

"Fine. Zell I need you to get down to the main power supply box below the elevator and cut the power." Squall ordered.

"What? If I do that she'll plummet to the ground!"

"And if you don't that dragon thing will tear the ship and us to pieces, now do it!" Said Squall, raising his voice slightly to get his point over.

Zell ran across the bridge and down the lift, following Squall's orders. After sending the lift back to the bridge Zell jumped into the main power conduit underneath it. His mind raced as he tried to remember which of the delicate junction boxes in front of him would cut the power to the engines alone and not the whole ship.

Mentally following the connections running through the very heart of the ship he found the correct casing and with all the grace of a charging T-Rex, ripped the cables out of it.

The gentle hum that Zell had barely noticed stopped and then the ship dropped like a stone through the air as gravity took hold. With a crash the Ragnarok yet again hit the Centra desert, sending clouds of debris into the air.

Squall and Seifer left the bridge and met Zell at the bottom of the lift shaft, all three were shaken and jarred by the crash, but their senses were as alert as ever and they were soon overloaded by the dragon's roar.

"Think it's gonna come back?" Said Seifer in a sarcastic tone.

"We've got to fight it this time,' stated Squall, 'if we don't then it's going to take apart the 'rok and we're going to be stuck here permanently."

"And if we do fight it, it's gonna kill us anyway. So I guess either way, we're staying. Great.." Zell said as the three of them headed toward the hatch.

With little more than a whoosh the door opened and hot stale air , mixed with sand and dust hit all three. Rock and heated sand crunched underfoot as Seifer, Zell and Squall left the fallen ship yet again and with yet another fearsome and ear-splitting roar the dragon set down before them.

It was, if anything, more fear inspiring than the last battle they had with it. The dragon was huge and seemingly recognised it's prey from their previous encounter. Letting it's head back the dragon roared again trying to scare the three friends in front of it to running and from there easily pick them off.

But SeeD, especially THE SeeD, never ran, from anything.

Learning from the previous fight all three immediately took up a defensive stance making it easier to block and avoid any physical attacks that the dragon could throw at them. The tension and pressure on all three of the fighters was apparent from the expressions on their faces, the focused intensity that made even Zell stop bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Instinct took over and Zell attempted to charge and cast an ultima spell on the dragon, before his conscious mind took over and he realised that neither Seifer or himself could use the magic that they'd become so accustomed to, only Squall could. Yet again the lion was their only hope to survive.

With a cry Zell jumped forward and attacked the dragon with all that he had. For him it was like hitting a solid titanium wall without his gloves on and yet, through the pain, he kept on attacking, leaving a minor dent in the gigantic beast's armour.

Seeing the limited effect that Zells powerful attack had on the beast Seifer decided to opt for a different tactic and instead of attacking the monsters body attempted to slash at a sensitive spot on the creature, its glowing eyes. Seifer's Hyperion only managed to make a slight scratch on the creature, from their perspectives the fight looked grim.

Squall, fully charged and now ready to fight charged at the creature and used a combination of attacks to at least try and breach the monsters defensive armour which yet again failed.

Squall, Zell and Seifer were surprised by what happened next. Aidan struck at the monster from its rear, using a series of quick slashes on it's back. Roaring in pain the dragon snapped its head round trying to catch the annoying stinging creature in it's jaws.

As the dragon was distracted Squall and Seifer attacked it's neck while Zell pummelled the upper body attempting to create a point that they could all attack.

Bellowing, the dragon was able to send Aidan flying onto the ground and slashed out at the trio of insects in front of it driving them back. All four of them now stood side by side facing death in it's most horrific form.

Squall knew as well as any SeeD that during battle there was no time for conversation, no time for sentiment or compassion, it was a fight for survival. A fight Squall intended to win and after he would speak to Aidan, probably using the tip of the Lionheart to make his point, no pun intended.

The dragon before them, the creature that had bested the three heroes of time once before made ready it's first attack. In a disturbing parallel to what had happened only a few days before hand the creature due back it's head and prepared it's lethal breath attack.

Something in Squall snapped and he attacked with all his courage and heart. To the others it looked like a limit break attack, but it felt different. Squall's attacks were more savage and faster than Zell or Seifer had ever thought possible and had more strength behind them than seemed remotely human. Seeing Squall slashing and hacking at the dragon in front of them was a sight that all three would remember for the rest of their lives.

The attack lasted far longer than any normal limit break which gave the others time to duck in between Squall's slashes and get in a hit but Squall was pretty much taking the dragon on solo.

And was winning.

The Dragon opened it's mouth to roar but Squall, without missing an opportunity, hacked at the creature's jaws sending blood and detritus over the sands. The Dragon screamed in pain as Squall moved onto the creatures eyes, continuing where Seifer had left off, and the remaining trio fought together hacking at the great beast's underbelly, ripping at the thick amour while trying to dodge its spasms of pain.

Zell opened a gash in the Dragons exposed belly, pink and sensitive skin exposed to the harsh elements of the desert and, without missing a beat, Seifer plunged the hyperion deep into the monsters flesh and pulled the trigger on the gunblade.

The scream that the dragon let out deafened each of the four causing them to fall back to their original defensive positions. The dust and debris stung their eyes as they looked at the sight before them. The Dragon that had only moments before seemed indestructible was writhing and screaming on the desert floor, its stomach ripped open making it weakened, but still powerful in its rage and pain. A foul smell was on the wind drifting towards the warriors and they knew with every fibre of their being that something was wrong.

"What the fuck is that smell?" Zell said, breaking the uneasy silence that seemed to follow them through every battle.

"It's not dead yet, maybe it's a natural reaction to having the crap beaten out of it." Chipped in Seifer.

The look on Squall's face was grim and stony as his hair whipped around his elegant and set face.

"It's a natural reaction alright,' he began, 'I think it's a pheromone being released. We need to kill this thing and kill it fast or we're in serious trouble." Squall paused for a moment, considering the options that the foursome had.

"We go for the chest cavity that's been opened and its head too. Seifer, you go for the eyes, I'll go for the neck. Zell and Aidan, rip it apart."

The look in Zell's eyes could only be described as feral, the prospect of tearing apart a creature of that size that had inflicted such damage upon his friends would be a pleasure.

The small, but powerful, group of humans charged the writhing screaming monster silently, their weapons raised and determined looks on all of their faces. Determined that each one of them would survive.

Zell and Aidan started to hack at the exposed flesh of the dragon while Seifer and Squall took on the head to try kill it quickly. Squall knew, somehow, that this creature had to die fast for them to have any chance, but at the rate they were going there was just no chance that they were going to do it.

_Awake My Sleeping Lionheart_

Squall froze with his gunblade poised in the air, causing Seifer to cast him a concerned look. That voice in his mind…

_Awake From Your Dreams_

Squall needed more power to finish the Dragon, power that was being offered to him in abundance and without a seconds thought he took it. The rush that went through his body was incredible, the air seemed to be liquid around him as he moved gracefully but with a savagery that he'd never before known he had. Each blow seemed to last an eternity to Squall giving him chance to cause as much damage as possible with each hit. He found himself moving around the monster, instinctively knowing its weak points and exploiting them. To him it seemed like a limit break but stronger than anything he had felt while performing his Renzokuken, the golden aura that normally accompanied his limit break was instead blue and it felt like power was being pumped into him, almost as much as he could take, in fact it felt like he was being boosted.

Every strike Squall inflicted on the Dragon caused it to howl louder and louder with the pain it was feeling. The great predator it had believed itself to be was suffering immeasurably and, as if sensing this, with one final, ultimate blow and an earth wrenching sonic boom that flung the other three fighters out of the way, the great warrior Squall Leonhart ended its life with such force that the indefatigable Onyx Dragon simply disintegrated away and faded into nothingness.

The three fighters picked themselves up and brushed themselves down while Squall stared into space, waiting for his body to return to normal after the rush of a limit break. Normally this happened within seconds, but this time it was taking longer, this time it was all because that fool had put them in danger by starting up the ship to soon, this time he wouldn't get away with it….

With these thoughts Squall focused all his energy and powers on Aidan, charging him with all the force of his limit break that was still energising his body. With a feral look on his face he picked Aidan up by his throat and, even though the two men were about the same height, held him into the air. For the briefest of moments not only anger, but also hate shone through the normal stoic stormy eyes of Squall.

"S….Squall…" Aidan choked out.

"Squall, put him down!" Shouted Zell from behind. As waking from a dream the rage in Squall's eyes dissipated and he dropped Aidan unceremoniously onto the desert surface.

Shaken by his own actions Squall took a step back a look of surprise and shock evident for the briefest of moments on his face before it was replaced back under the icy mask that he'd worn for so many years. Coming up behind him Seifer knelt down to try and help Aidan, whereas Zell tentatively placed a hand on Squall's shoulder in support.

The look on Aidan's face spoke for its self, a look of shock and horror, but like Squalls it disappeared. Seifer started to help him up but was shrugged off by Aidan.

"It's ok, I'm not hurt just a little shaken."

"Well you should be, you could have killed us with that little stunt." Seifer whispered harshly in his ear.

"What the fuck were you playing at Tiger!' Burst out Zell, 'What were you thinking!"

An emotion flashed across Squalls face at the mention of Aidan's nickname by Zell. It was unnoticed by anyone except Seifer who was unsure how to interpret it and so decided it better to say nothing.

"I wanted you out of here, I thought I wanted to be alone, I…." Aidan trailed off, hanging his head breaking the brief eye contact he'd had with Zell.

"That doesn't matter now,' said Squall filling his voice with authority, 'Lieutenant Aidan Tygerson, for endangering the lives of SeeD troops while in a battle situation and for desertion and dereliction of duty I am placing you under military arrest to be court marshalled at such time as we can return to Garden."

Aidan met the steely grey of Squall's gaze and for just a moment there was only the two of them, one with courage beyond measure and the other a broken man because of what he had gone through.

And just as quickly the understanding and connection between the two was broken.

"As SeeD I will return with you to Garden and face whatever action you feel is necessary. Sir."

"Good,' Replied Squall nodding his head once in assent, 'Seifer and I will return with you to get your things, Zell you get the ship ready for take off again. Make sure there are no other surprises waiting for us in the systems"

Zell looked at Aidan, his sapphire eyes shining, whether it was joy because Aidan was returning with them or because they were finally about to get underway none could be sure.

"See you all in a minute." He said and then started off toward the ship.

"Well, shall we go?" was the mocking suggestion that came from Seifer.

After a hasty repair job by Zell in the Ragnarok and when Seifer, Squall and Aidan returned from the house at last they were ready to leave and return to civilisation.

"What's up Squall?" Asked Zell as the three men walked back into the cockpit of the ship, noticing the more than usual sour look on the brunette's face.

"Li'l pussy cat here's a little pissed off Chickie." Said Seifer, with the usual smirk plastered over his face.

"Aidan destroyed his computer systems before we could get at them. There's nothing left" Stated Squall flatly, with just a touch of steel in his voice.

Zell glared at Aidan, who simply shrugged his shoulders. His chocolate eyes sparkled with mischief though, a look that stirred forgotten memories within Zell, a look that was clearly meant for him alone, but something that Squall noticed also.

"Whatever,' Squall continued, 'The ship's all ready for takeoff Zell?"

"All checked and ready." He replied.

"Fine. As long as there's no other surprises waiting for us,' Squall accompanied this statement with a pointed glare at Aidan, 'we can finally get going."

Seifer, Zell and Squall took their respective positions on the Bridge with Aidan hovering in the background, an outsider to the lead trio. With a roar the ships engines came to life and, with a slight shake and rattle, the fallen Ragnarok lifted off the ground.

Aidan stared out of the main window as the ship lifted higher into the air, silently saying goodbye to what had been his home for the last 5 years. As the ship turned his eyes followed the ramshackle building until it disappeared from view, he didn't look for it after that. His past was settled, and his eyes looked to the horizon and his future.

For the others in the cockpit, they were just glad to be going back home with their prodigal son and their lost comrade.


End file.
